Prevent

To prevent an explosion like the one that killed 12 people who were camping near Carlsbad last August, the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission is expected to approve a study to review the condition of all the state’s natural gas pipelines, which could be completed before the end of this year.

To prevent an explosion like the one that killed 12 people whowere camping near Carlsbad last August, the New Mexico PublicRegulation Commission is expected to approve a study to review thecondition of all the state’s natural gas pipelines, which could becompleted before the end of this year.

In a second lawsuit filed last week to prevent future legal roadblocks, Royal Dutch Shell Group asked a federal court to declare that its tender offer to take over Denver-based Barrett Resources Corp. complied with the regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and that Barrett may not file a lawsuit on any merger-related issues except in the Delaware courts, where Barrett is incorporated.

In a second lawsuit filed this week to prevent future legalroadblocks, Royal Dutch Shell Group is asking a federal court todeclare that its tender offer to take over Denver-based BarrettResources Corp. complies with the regulations of the Securities andExchange Commission, and that Barrett may not file a lawsuit on anymerger-related issues except in the Delaware courts, where Barrettis incorporated.

In a daring move, a staff member of the Federal EnergyRegulatory Commission’s new office that monitors the electric andnatural gas markets has accused the Commission of being powerlessto monitor and correct abuses in the electricity industry.

The City of New York said it’s prepared to go to court toprevent the construction of the Millennium Pipeline project alongproposed routes that would pose a threat to its water supply.

El Paso Natural Gas has agreed to pay Southern California Edison$32 million and make other concessions to prevent its hard-fought1996 rate settlement from collapsing like a house of cards. Thedeal ends four years of litigation by Edison, which tried to derailthe settlement from the very start.

Not even the best financial quarter since the fourth quarter of1997 could prevent BP Amoco from following through with itsjob-cutting plan as the company said it will cut 2,000 morepredominantly US jobs before the year is over. The integratedenergy giant has already slashed 12,500 jobs from the pay roll. Itwould not elaborate on which US jobs would be eliminated.

The usual demand fall-off associated with a holiday weekendfailed to prevent Friday’s cash market from rejecting the slightlysofter trend that had appeared to be developing Thursday. Insteadthe long-lasting trend of little to no price movement reasserteditself at nearly all points. A Western source said recent tradinghas been “like that movie Groundhog Day, because every morning Iwake up and the market is at the same place. The only difference isAndie McDowell [Bill Murray’s female co-star in the movie] has yetto show up.”