Predict

The recent string of record warm winters may come to a closethis winter, as normal (cold) weather is likely to return,according to predictions from top weather experts at the NationalOceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Salomon SmithBarney.

In a move analysts predict will help both companies realizetheir full value, Williams has begun the first steps to separateits energy division from its communications businesses. The boardof directors of the Tulsa, OK-based company voted July 23 to beginthe process, which is expected to take about 18 months.

In a move analysts predict will help both companies realizetheir full value, Williams has begun the first steps to separateits energy division from its communications businesses. The boardof directors of the Tulsa, OK-based company voted Sunday to beginthe process, which is expected to take about 18 months.

Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline officials predict there couldbe a service delay and a rate increase on its 164,000 MMBtu/d SaintJohn lateral because clearing work has been stopped illegally byunion workers. Work was scheduled to begin last Monday on theproject, but union laborers physically prevented clearing by HEFIndustries Ltd., the hired excavation/clearing contractor, whichuses non-union labor.

Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline officials predict there couldbe a service delay and a rate increase on its 164,000 MMBtu/d SaintJohn lateral because clearing work has been stopped illegally byunion workers. Work was scheduled to begin Monday on the project,but union laborers have physically prevented clearing by HEFIndustries Ltd., the hired excavation/clearing contractor, whichuses non-union labor.

Oil and gas production from offshore Atlantic Canada could reachabout 500,000 Boe/d if, as key operators in the region predict, anew development project begins every two or three years throughoutthe next two decades, according to “Harnessing the Potential -Atlantic Canada’s Oil and Gas Industry.”

The recent rash of producer spending cuts (see related story)comes at a time when the message on prices from the analystcommunity is pretty gloomy, too. “There’s not much holding [gasprices] up,” said Thomas J. Woods, Ziff Energy vice president forU.S. Gas Services. Woods said Ziff has been warning its clientsthat current prices are not supportable. “We had put out some earlywarnings in July when prices first frayed, and we said that therewas a very significant possibility that this would go [on].”