Part

“Total Energy” may be an “unforgettable” brand name in this ageof energy convergence, as the small New York energy services firmTotal Energy Corp. claims, but would someone actually buy the nameand make it their own? Total Energy’s consultant R.J. RuddenAssociates thinks so, though Richard J. Rudden, president of thefirm, admits he’s never heard of a company buying another’s brandname. “I can’t say I’ve heard of that. But I know it’s nothing fora large national energy company to spend tens of millions ofdollars on brand imaging.”

El Paso Natural Gas conceded Wednesday it discontinueddiscounting interruptible transportation early this year, but saidits action was primarily due to its new status as “swing supplier”of California-bound transportation – a position that it says givesit free reign to charge maximum IT rates.

Transwestern said its La Plata compressor station will be downthrough Thursday, March 5, for construction. There will be zerovolumes flowing from the Ignacio area to the Blanco Hub.Interconnects affected are NWPL-La Plata, WFS Ignacio Plant, andAmoco Florida River Plant. Capacity from the Blanco Hub to Thoreauwill remain at 800,000 MMcf/d. The same scenario also will applyMarch 28 through 31, Transwestern said.

Cash prices came out of the chute fast Monday morning as coldertemperatures, strong NYMEX prices and a bit of hype tricked mostmarkets into early gains. “A buyer blinked early this morning andsellers took control,” a Tulsa marketer said. The early strengthpushed prices to 5-8 cents above index levels in some cases.However, after the market caught its breath, sellers came out ofthe woodwork to send prices lower and late trades were back nearindex levels. Western prices followed the East’s early lead butresisted the major downturn.

El Paso Energy CEO William A. Wise calls his company’s latestplanned acquisition the “yellow brick road” to deep-water Gulf ofMexico gas development. El Paso said it will buy DeepTechInternational’s interests in Leviathan Gas Pipeline through aseries of transactions worth about $450 million. Leviathan GasPipeline Partners produces, processes, gathers, transports andmarkets oil and gas in the offshore Gulf of Mexico.

A bidding war has erupted over British electric company TheEnergy Group with Texas Utilities formally entering the battleMonday with an offer of 810 pence (US$13.37) for each Energy Groupshare – 45 pence more than that of the initial bidder PacifiCorp.The Portland, OR firm was not to be out-penced, however, coming inwith a new offer of 820 pence. PacifiCorp said it has acquired45,987,079 EG shares, representing approximately 8.8% of theBritish Firm’s outstanding share capital.

Consolidated Edison announced it plans to sell two-thirds (5,500MW) of its New York City electric generation plants in an auctionstarting this summer. Its plants will be divided into threebundles. Each bundle will include a major generating facility-theRavenswood Generating Station in Long Island City, the AstoriaGenerating Station in Astoria, or the Arthur Kill Station on StatenIsland-and gas turbine generating facilities in Queens andBrooklyn. The company plans to sell two of the bundles throughauction and retain the remaining bundle, which has not yet beenidentified. It expects to receive authorization from the New YorkState Public Service Commission (PSC) by July 1. The auctionprocess would begin later that month, with the winning bidders tobe announced in January 1999.

Consumers Energy will expand its “Gas Customer Choice” retailprogram this April to 100,000 customers state-wide in Michigan,following a one-year pilot that allowed 500 customers in Bay Countyto pick another natural gas supplier. In all, 300,000 customerswill be given a choice of suppliers over the next three years.

Prices for the last day of February were mostly softer Friday,but quotes for the Southwest basins, Rockies and intra-Albertareflected flatness. And Canadian exports into Northwest at Sumas,which had been languishing in the low to mid $1.10s at the start ofthe week, climbed to the $1.30 area. The big exception to Westernfirmness was a fall of about a dime at the Southern Californiaborder in wide-ranging numbers.