Phase

The Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service completed its two-phase bid evaluation process for Central Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 178, Part 1 on Friday, awarding 534 leases worth a total of $499.6 million. MMS actually rejected 13 high bids worth $5.7 million, calling them “insufficient for fair market value,” but said the sale indicated a “continued strong showing” by both majors and independents.

The Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service completed its two-phase bid evaluation process for Central Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 178, Part 1 on Friday, awarding 534 leases worth a total of $499.6 million. MMS actually rejected 13 high bids worth $5.7 million, calling them “insufficient for fair market value,” but said the sale indicated a “continued strong showing” by both majors and independents.

The C$4.6 billion Alliance natural gas and liquids pipeline,designed to transport 1.325 Bcf/d from northeast British Columbiato Chicago, has completed its construction phase and now iscommissioning the main line, laterals, compressors and supervisoryequipment.

The C$4.6 billion Alliance natural gas and liquids pipeline, designed to transport 1.325 Bcf/d from northeast British Columbia to Chicago, has completed its construction phase and now is commissioning the mainline, laterals, compressors and supervisory equipment.

With the initial phase (regional meetings) of the formation ofregional transmission organizations (RTOs) wrapped up, FERCChairman James Hoecker last week gave the electric industry a”solid B” for its efforts. There haven’t been any “breakthroughs”yet, he reported, just “frank talk….. and widespread commitmentsto continue working toward a productive conclusion.”

After engaging in a Northeast LDC eating binge last year, EnergyEast Corp. started the digestion phase of its strategy yesterday byannouncing the completion of its Connecticut Energy purchase. Thetransaction gives Energy East control over Southern Connecticut GasCo., an LDC serving 160,000 customers. The original purchase offerwas made last April for $617 million. Energy East (formerly knownas NYSEG) still has a full plate, however, as its transactions withCTG Resources, CMP Energy and Berkshire Energy are still beingprocessed. Following the completion of all the acquisitions, EnergyEast will have more than 1.3 million electric customers and morethan 542,000 gas customers, excluding any added through CMP NaturalGas, the Maine gas distribution partnership of Energy East and CMP.With CTG and Connecticut Energy, Energy East becomes the largestgas distributor in the state with about 300,000 customers.

After swallowing two energy distributors in two months most observers expected Energy East to enter a digestion phase, but the company came back for a third helping last week. The parent company of New York State Electric and Gas (NYSEG) said it is adding CTG Resources, Inc., parent of Connecticut Natural Gas (CNG), to its plate, which already is loaded with CMP Energy and Connecticut Energy.

After swallowing two energy distributors in two months mostobservers expected Energy East to enter a digestion phase, but thecompany came back for a third helping yesterday. The parent companyof New York State Electric and Gas said it is adding CTG Resources,Inc., parent of Connecticut Natural Gas (CNG), to its plate, whichalready is loaded with CMP Energy and Connecticut Energy.

California regulators are scheduled to wrap up the formaldata-gathering phase of their assessment of the state’s natural gasmarkets with an oral argument March 23 in San Francisco. Using thisdata and the record from formal hearings conducted earlier thisyear, the California Public Utilities Commission will establish alist of the most promising options for injecting more competitioninto the state’s natural gas business, beginning next year. Thehalf-day hearing will divide 19 major parties into two discussionpanels: one focused on customer issues and the other oncompetitors. The three utilities will be represented on bothpanels.