Picking

Despite the record rig count, gas production isn’t picking upspeed the way many expected, according to Robert Morris of SalomonSmith Barney. Gas production decline rates are extremely high, andthe United States will be lucky to see production growth of 3% thisyear, Morris said during a conference call Friday.

Although the Northeast consumes a lower percentage of naturalgas than does the rest of the nation, it ranks as the most popularenergy fuel in regional households, according to a new study issuedby the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Customer choice in the United States is picking up steam, asevidenced in the American Gas Association’s (AGA) Energy Analysis2000 update released last month. The study follows natural gaspurchasing trends for the industrial, electric utility, commercialand residential sectors.

Although the Northeast consumes a lower percentage of naturalgas than does the rest of the nation, gas ranks as the most popularenergy fuel in households, according to a new study by the EnergyInformation Agency (EIA).

Customer choice in the United States is picking up steam, asevidenced in the American Gas Association’s (AGA) Energy Analysis2000 update released yesterday. The study follows natural gaspurchasing trends for the industrial, electric utility, commercialand residential sectors.

UtiliCorp United said yesterday it would be picking up TransAltaCorp.’s Alberta-based electricity distribution and retail assetsfor $450 million in a deal intended to aid its internationalexpansion. The assets serve 350,000 customers with about 54,000miles of low-voltage distribution lines, and a 24-hour customercall center in Calgary.

The largest shareowner of Canadian gas aggregator ProGas Ltd.last week stepped up to buy the rest of the producer-held companyto ensure that it remains in producer hands.

BP Amoco’s recently established Gas & Power division isbuying the remaining shares of ProGas Ltd. it does not already own.The acquisition will bring the volume of Canadian gas marketed byBP Amoco Gas & Power to 3 Bcf/d and increase its total NorthAmerican sales to 7 Bcf/d.

Blocked in its bid for neighboring Southwest Gas, Austin,TX-based Southern Union Co. focused on the East, picking upapproval from its board of directors and that of the Fall River GasCo., on a merger agreement.