Plains

High temperatures in nearly every section of the U.S. except the Midwest and Upper Plains, along with strong energy futures, generated a run-up in gas prices at all points Monday.

White Plains, NY-based Texaco, the number three energy major, achieved record second quarter income that exceeded analysts’ expectations, reporting Wednesday that it had income of $817 million, or $1.50 per share, compared with $614 million, or $1.17 per share, for the second quarter of 2000. Net income for the period was $784 million, or $1.44 per share.

It was getting hot just about everywhere Tuesday except in the Upper Plains. The rising air conditioning load had a moderate price-boosting effect in eastern markets, but virtually none at all in the West.

White Plains, NY-based U.S. Energy Systems Inc. on Tuesday reported that it is acquiring Trigen Energy Canada Co., an indirect subsidiary of Trigen Energy Corp., in a transaction totaling $18 million. The acquisition includes two district energy systems, one located in Charlottetown, PE and the other in London, ON. The Charlottetown District Energy System provides heating and other energy services to 102 customer buildings under long-term contracts, including provincial and privately owned buildings in the downtown area. U.S. Energy Systems said that energy is produced at Charlottetown’s renewable biomass and energy- from-waste facilities. The London District Energy System features a combined heat and power plant that provides electricity, heating and cooling. Energy services are provided to 71 customer buildings. Electricity is also sold to the municipal utility, London Hydro. U.S. Energy Systems is an independent producer of power, generated close to the customer. It develops, owns and operates combined heat and power plants and energy plants utilizing renewable fuels in North America.

A blast of cold weather and snow in the Rockies and northernPlains helped lift cash prices more than a quarter from weekendlevels at some Rocky Mountain region locations, but cash prices atmost points east of the Rockies lost their footing early yesterdayand slid most of the day before regaining ground late in thesession.

Northern Natural Gas took its Plains Turbine down Monday forabout three weeks of unplanned repairs. The outage affects 100,000MMbtu/d at nine points on the Hobbs System in southeastern NewMexico.