Opened

As soaring December bills for natural gas use hit the home frontin Illinois last week, city and state officials opened a broadinvestigation into the causes of skyrocketing prices and madeattempts to increase assistance to low-income households.

For the third trading session in a row, natural gas futuresopened higher yesterday, but unlike Monday when prices driftedlower, the movement was positive Tuesday as traders positionedthemselves ahead of today’s storage report and the continuation ofunseasonably cold temperatures.

Ending concerns that related pipelines might not start serviceon the same day, both the Alliance and Vector pipelines opened forbusiness on Friday.

Canadian 88 Energy Corp. said it has opened data rooms to allowpotential acquirers access to confidential information. TheCanadian exploration and production company put itself up for salein October after Duke Energy rescued it by buying a controllingstake. On Oct. 10, the company announced that its board hadestablished a special committee to review strategic alternativesand identify opportunities to enhance shareholder value. The boardsaid strong fundamentals for high quality natural gas assets andprospects are not reflected in current stock price valuations andare more likely to be realized through such a strategic reviewprocess. Canadian 88 stated several reasons for initiating thereview process, including high gas prices, large working interestsin significant company-operated gas fields, an inventory ofexcellent gas exploration prospects, the world class potential ofthe company’s East Coast holdings, imminent expiration of currentgas hedges and tax pools in excess of $400 million.

Looking beyond rate freezes and charges for strandedinvestments, California regulators last Thursday opened the doorfor greater retail electric price fluctuations in a decisionallowing the state’s three major investor-owned electric utilitiesto buy and sell some of their power outside the state-mandatednonprofit power exchange (Cal-PX).

Looking beyond rate freezes and charges for strandedinvestments, California regulators Thursday opened the door forgreater retail electric price fluctuations in a decision allowingthe state’s three major investor-owned electric utilities to buyand sell some of their power outside the state-mandated nonprofitpower exchange (Cal-PX).

Southern Company Energy Marketing said it opened an energymarketing operation in Western Canada in conjunction with thesigning of an arrangement to manage the business of Pan-Alberta GasLtd. The new marketing operation has about 60 employees, most ofwhom previously worked for Pan-Alberta. Southern Company EnergyMarketing announced in January that it had agreed in principle tomanage the assets of Pan-Alberta, Canada’s second-largest exporterof natural gas. Southern has marketed about 7 Bcf/d, whilePan-Alberta has sold about 1.2 Bcf/d. Pan-Alberta is owned by morethan 400 Western Canada natural gas producers and has nearly US$1.5billion in sales annually. Its assets include long-term dedicatedgas supply arrangements and more than 1.2 Bcf/d of pipelinetransportation capacity.

Duke Energy Gas Transmission said yesterday it opened two 400MMcf/d interconnections between its East Tennessee pipeline systemand Texas Eastern Transmission (Tetco), paving the way for ETNGcustomers to access more diverse supplies from the Gulf Coastregion.

Southern Company Energy Marketing said it opened an energymarketing operation in Western Canada in conjunction with thesigning of an arrangement to manage the business of Pan-Alberta GasLtd. The new marketing operation has about 60 employees, most ofwhom previously worked for Pan-Alberta. Southern Company EnergyMarketing announced in January that it had agreed in principle tomanage the assets of Pan-Alberta, Canada’s second-largest exporterof natural gas. Southern has marketed about 7 Bcf/d, whilePan-Alberta has sold about 1.2 Bcf/d. Pan-Alberta is owned by morethan 400 Western Canada natural gas producers and has nearly US$1.5billion in sales annually. Its assets include long-term dedicatedgas supply arrangements and more than 1.2 Bcf/d of pipelinetransportation capacity.