Preceding

Consolidated Natural Gas Co.’s CNG Energy Index calculatedresidential heating and cooling energy needs averaged 7.7% belownormal for the country over the winter heating season (Nov. 1-March31). There were wide variations across the country, however, withabove normal energy needs in the Southwest and Lower MississippiValley.

Natural-gas shippers have again been promised they will gainfrom the proposed merger of TransCanada PipeLines Ltd. and NovaCorp., but not before a spell of increased tolls.

Subject to certain conditions and a pending a technicalconference, FERC has approved a plan (RP98-140-000) allowingTennessee Gas Pipeline to reserve unused pipeline capacity, sellingit under short-term contracts, up to one year if the capacity canbe used to support a proposed expansion project. The tariff changewas made effective by the Commission on March 25

The Clinton administration will announce today a “plan” or “listof principles” for restructuring the electricity industry. “It canbe introduced as legislation. It’s written in legislative language.This is what everyone’s been waiting for,” said Bill Wicker, aspokesman for the Department of Energy.

Three commodity futures exchanges are expected to launch six newelectricity futures and options contracts this year based ondelivery east of the Mississippi and it looks like two Nymexcontracts could be the first to market. The Commodity FuturesTrading Commission yesterday approved the Nymex contracts, whichare based on delivery through the Cinergy transmission system (inOhio) and through the Entergy transmission system (in Louisiana). Athird Nymex electricity contract, based on delivery through thePennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnection transmissionsystem, was not submitted to the CFTC because of recent changes inPJM policies. The PJM contract is expected to be submitted at alater date when the most active trading locations in the PJM poolare identified.

Cash prices were mostly higher Monday, but there was littleconsistency from market to market. Western points mostly rangedfrom flat to down a nickel, while Northeast citygates andAppalachian pipes jumped by a nickel or more as snowy conditionsstill lingered in some areas. One forecasting service said the fiveinches of snow dumped in the New York City area over the weekendwas 10 times what it had received all winter.

NIPSCO announced 3,281 out of 50,000 eligible residentialcustomers in the South Bend-Mishawaka-Granger area and 920 out of1,500 eligible commercial and small industrial buyers in thenorthern third of the state of Indiana will begin receiving gasfrom alternative suppliers for the first time starting in April.

A big shift in strategy led Equitable Resources to put some ofits most prized Gulf Coast midstream assets on the auction blocklast week. The company announced it is selling the 1,900-mileLouisiana Interstate Gas pipeline (including a 500 MMcf/dDepartment of Energy oil line it converted to transport naturalgas), the 3.6 Bcf capacity Jefferson Island salt dome storageproject and its gas and power marketing operation. The gasmarketing operation sold 500 Bcf of gas in 1997.

Central Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 169 wasn’t a record, unlikethe last few lease sales, but heavy bidding seems to indicate lowcrude oil prices have not affected the industry’s aggressivedrilling plans. The U.S. Department of the Interior’s MineralsManagement Service (MMS) reported receiving 1,188 bids on 794tracts offered Wednesday. A total of 87 companies participated inthe sale. All bids totaled nearly $1.35 billion, and high bidstotaled more than $810.4 million. Of 4,180 tracts offered, 794received bids with an average of 1.5 bids per tract. By comparison,Central Gulf Sale 166, which took place a year ago, generated morethan $824 million in high bids but on more tracts. Then, 1,032tracts received bids of 5,059 offered.