Performance

Avista Corp., flying high on an over-the-top performance by itstrading subsidiary, and CMS Energy, buoyed by favorable powertransactions and cost reductions, both said Friday they will reportabove consensus estimates for the third quarter. Spokane, WA-basedAvista officially will report its earnings Oct. 25, and CMS,headquartered in Dearborn, MI, will follow the next day.

Usource LLC, a subsidiary of Unitil Corp., said yesterday thatSpecial Metals Corp., the world’s leading producer ofhigh-performance nickel-based alloys, has chosen to purchase its3.3 Bcf/year of natural gas for facilities in New Hartford andDunkirk, NY, Huntington, WV, and Burnough, KY, throughUsourceonline.com.

PricewaterhouseCoopers and Landmark Graphics Corp. agreedyesterday to jointly market and implement capital allocation andperformance management software applications for the oil and gasindustry. The agreement will provide the oil and gas industry withautomated tracking services, and the ability to better manageshareholder value and related information. “With the globallandscape of oil and gas companies in continuous change, we areextremely excited about the opportunities our work with LandmarkGraphics will bring to the industry,” said Michael Olszewski,consulting managing partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers NorthAmerican Petroleum Practice. PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Global Energy& Mining Group serves more than 3,000 oil and gas companiesworldwide with problem solving and risk management. Landmark, awholly owned subsidiary of Halliburton Co., supplies integratedE&P technical and economic software and services for the oiland gas industry. Both are headquartered in Houston.

Shareholders of Columbia Energy Group Friday duplicated theperformance of NiSource Inc. shareholders a day earlier,overwhelmingly approving the merger of the two companies, and bringingit a step closer to reality. (See Daily GPI, June 2)

Acknowledging its significant improvement in company performanceand shareholder value in the past year, Equitable Resourcespromoted Murry S. Gerber to chairman of the board of directors lastweek. Gerber has served as president and CEO since joiningEquitable in 1998.

Acknowledging its significant improvement in company performanceand shareholder value in the past year, Equitable Resources haspromoted Murry S. Gerber to chairman of the board of directors.Gerber has served as president and CEO since joining Equitable in1998.

The cash market turned in another strong performance Tuesday,even with little in the way of either heating or cooling load forsupport.

Except for a lackluster, slightly lower performance at severalNortheast citygates, the cash market was flexing its muscles like avain pro wrestler Thursday. Price hikes that generally rangedbetween a nickel and a dime dominated the landscape, althoughCalifornia firming was milder except at capacity-constrained Malin.

Nicor Gas said yesterday it has accepted the Illinois CommerceCommission’s (ICC) order for a performance-based rate (PBR) fornatural gas costs. Currently, the Naperville, IL-based distributorspends about $900 million a year to purchase gas, but the PBRprovides the financial incentive for it to buy gas at even lowerprices. Under the PBR formula, Nicor’s actual gas costs will becompared to a targeted benchmark that’s based on competitive marketprices. The difference between the actual gas costs and thebenchmark will be shared 50/50 between Nicor Gas and its customers.The PBR plan, which will go into effect Jan. 1, will not apply totransportation customers who purchase their own supplies from thirdparties.