Northern

The merger of New Century Energies and Northern States Powerappears to be moving faster than expected. The companies announcedplans yesterday to hold their special shareholder meetings toapprove the merger in late June rather than in September. Theproposed merger requires shareholder approval as well as approvalor regulatory review by various federal and state agencies. Whencompleted the merged company will serve 3 million electricitycustomers and 1.5 million natural gas customers in 12 U.S. states.

An open season for up to 100 MMcf/d of firm transportationcapacity in the Sacramento Delta region of northern California isset for May 10 through the end of June by Western Gas Resources(WGR), which is planning to make an existing gas pipeline,gathering and delivery system an open-access, state-regulatedoperation. The state regulatory process to make the change willbegin June 8 with a pre-hearing conference in San Francisco.

There will be zero flow through Finney County (KS) Station April21-22 during maintenance on the station’s Unit #4, Northern NaturalGas said. It estimated 13,000 MMbtu/d will be affected. About150,000 MMbtu/d will be affected at Spraberry Compressor Station inWest Texas during a one-day emergency shutdown test and changeoutof valves May 3.

Despite announcing one-year commodity sales agreements withOutback Steakhouse and the Hair Cuttery in Northern Virginia thisweek, Constellation Energy Source said retail commodity sales arelosing their allure. The company, a nonregulated subsidiary ofBaltimore Gas & Electric, has closed several small retailmarketing offices and eliminated six retail commodity salespositions to make room for more engineers and energy servicesexperts.

San Jose-based independent power company Calpine Corp. acquireda 20% interest in 82 Bcf of proven gas reserves in NorthernCalifornia’s Sacramento basin. Calpine’s $15 million investmentprovided a portion of the financing for Houston-based SheridanEnergy Inc.’s acquisition of Sacramento Basin oil and gasproperties from Amerada Hess Corp.

Giving gas unbundling efforts in California a shot in the arm,FERC last week approved a major agreement to restructure thelong-term transportation and gas sales arrangements that haveenabled Southern California Gas (SoCalGas) over the years toreceive imports of Canadian gas through its paper pipelineaffiliate, Pacific Interstate Transmission Co. (PITCO).

Environmental activist Anne Marie Mueser, taking her battleagainst Sonat’s northern Alabama extension one step further, hasaccused Commissioner Curt Hebert Jr. of potentially compromisinghis impartiality in the case by corresponding with the pipeline andother supporters of the project. She suggested that Hebert, whovoted for an amended certificate for the Sonat project last week,should have considered recusing himself from the case [see relatedstory].

Calling his own merchant underground natural gas storage fieldin northern California a “done deal,” a Calgary-based AlbertaEnergy official speculated that any competitors in developingnonutility, market-based storage “have quite a bit of work to do”to get a competing facility up and running. It was an indirectreference to a smaller, competing facility whose backers say theywill file with California regulators Oct. 1. (See Daily GPI, Sept.21)

Washington Gas soon will notify its northern Virginia customersof its customer choice pilot. Customers will have the option tochoose from a list of gas suppliers whose names and phone numberswill be included in an October bill insert. A series of communityeducation meetings is planned.