Profitable

While there are “ample” natural gas reserves throughout North America, the cost of developing “frontier” projects is substantially greater than importing additional quantities of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Trinidad, South America, Africa, the Middle East and Australia, the Zeus Development Corp. said following a symposium on the subject.

While there are “ample” natural gas reserves throughout North America, the cost of developing “frontier” projects is substantially greater than importing additional quantities of LNG from Trinidad, South America, Africa, the Middle East and Australia, the Zeus Development Corp. said.

Texas’ severance tax on oil and gas would be set on a sliding scale to assist industry during less profitable times, under a bill passed this week in the Texas Senate. Sen. Teel Bivins (R-Amarillo) said the legislation (SB 344) would create a sliding tax scale to allow industry to pay as little as 1% in taxes.

Producers are in for a very profitable year if recent thirdquarter earnings reports are any indication. Occidental Petroleumreported a three-fold increase in third quarter earnings comparedto the same period last year, going from $126 million ($0.35 pershare) in 3Q99 to $402 million ($1.09 per share) in 3Q2000. Thesuccessful performance is mainly the result of higher commodityprices. Oxy’s earnings before special items for the third quarterwere $370 million ($1.00 per share) as opposed to last year for thesame time period when the company posted $125 million ($.35 ashare). Oxy’s oil and gas division earned $690 million beforespecial items, compared to $279 million in 3Q99. Although commoditycosts played a large part in the increase, the company also citedan increase in production volumes due to its acquisition of AlturaEnergy from Shell Exploration & Production Co. and BP duringthe second quarter of 2000. Its domestic gas production levels rosefrom 673 MMcf/d during 3Q99 to 687MMcf/d for 3Q2000, while domesticliquids (mostly crude) rose from 71,000 b/d to 210,000 b/d.

Producers are in for a very profitable year if recent third quarterearnings reports are any indication. Following on EOG’s announcementTuesday of a 250% earnings hike, Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy)Wednesday reported a three-fold increase in third quarter earningscompared to the same period last year, going from $126 million ($0.35per share) in 3Q99 to $402 million ($1.09 per share) in 3Q2000 (seeDaily GPI, Oct. 18).

For those who would generate and sell electricity in thecompetitive marketplace, the future is one of many opportunitiesand at least as many challenges. “There’s no guaranteed costrecovery. You’re going to have to manage your fuel cost and youroperational excellence outside of the rate base mentality,” saidWilliam J. Grealis, chief strategic officer and vice president forcorporate services for Cinergy Corp. “You’re going to have tounderstand with your generation portfolio how many additionalmillion megawatt hours can you generate at what price to dispatchinto the market to make money.

For those who would generate and sell electricity in thecompetitive marketplace, the future is one of many opportunitiesand at least as many challenges. “There’s no guaranteed costrecovery. You’re going to have to manage your fuel cost and youroperational excellence outside of the rate base mentality,” saidWilliam J. Grealis, chief strategic officer and vice president forcorporate services for Cinergy Corp. “You’re going to have tounderstand with your generation portfolio how many additionalmillion megawatt hours can you generate at what price to dispatchinto the market to make money.

The demonstrative trend among the top energy marketers appearsto be that the big movers continue getting much bigger while thesmaller marketers are struggling to maintain previous sales volumesand profitability, according to NGI’s marketing survey. The surveyalso indicates volume growth has very little correlation withfinancial performance.