Programs

Questar Corp. said Wednesday that its low-risk development gas drilling programs have deliverability by 40% this year at its core Rocky Mountain plays in western Wyoming and eastern Utah. Despite intentionally curtailing Rockies production because of low prices and unprecedented basis differentials, the company is on track to grow production by 12% this year, said Chuck Stanley, executive vice president of Questar’s Market Resources (QMR) subsidiary.

Despite cutting its overall capital spending budget for exploration and production programs this year by 13% to $1.67 billion, PanCanadian plans to maintain its spending levels on natural gas E&P and still expects a 10% increase in North American gas production over 2001 levels.

Richard Riordan, a leading Republican candidate for governor and former mayor of Los Angeles, last week lashed out at Calfironia’s Gov. Gray Davis for allegedly mishandling the state’s ongoing energy crisis and injecting the state into too strong a role within the electricity industry.

Acting on recent Ohio legislation aimed at making natural gas customer-choice programs in the state more “consumer-friendly,” the recently formed Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council (NOPEC), the nation’s largest public energy aggregated buying group, reported that it has entered into a one-year contract with Shell Energy for natural gas services to residents of the 95 NOPEC communities.

Acting on recent Ohio legislation aimed at making natural gas customer-choice programs in the state more “consumer-friendly,” the recently formed Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council (NOPEC), the nation’s largest public energy aggregated buying group, reported that it has entered into a one-year contract with Shell Energy for natural gas services to residents of the 95 NOPEC communities.

The 2001 mantra of most North American exploration and production companies could be the oft-quoted line from the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire: “Show Me The Money!” Driven by the continued strong interest in North America and sustained high energy prices, both majors and independents have upped their capital spending budgets for the coming year. Most target domestic natural gas projects.

The 2001 mantra of most North American exploration andproduction companies could be the oft-quoted line from the 1996movie Jerry Maguire: “Show Me The Money!” Driven by the continuedstrong interest in North America and sustained high energy prices,both majors and independents have upped their capital spendingbudgets for the coming year. Most target domestic natural gasprojects.

The landscape of projects and programs to move Canadian gasarriving in Chicago on to the East changed again last week. KinderMorgan’s Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America (NGPL) and TexasEastern Transmission (TETCO) are targeting the market with areciprocal capacity lease arrangement.

California regulators this week (Dec. 16) are slated to take acritical step in eventually opening the natural gas industry tomore competition when they decide whether to follow staffrecommendations and push for a natural gas consumer protection lawwhen the state legislature reconvenes next month. Staff at theCalifornia Public Utilities Commission are asking the five-memberregulatory body to adopt a proposed consumer protection bill thatwas outlined last August as part of a report to the statelegislature, which has openly expressed concerns about unbundlingnatural gas to the same degree as the state’s electric industrybecause of customer and public safety issues related to thedistribution and use of gas.