Proposed

Southwest Gas of Las Vegas and Oneok Inc. of Tulsa, OK, received the blessing of Nevada’s Consumer Advocate and a Nevada state legislator for their proposed merger.

Southwest Gas of Las Vegas and Oneok Inc. of Tulsa, OK receivedthe blessing of Nevada’s Consumer Advocate and a Nevada statelegislator for their proposed merger.

The Gas Research Institute has offered a proposed budget of $98million for approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission tofund research and development projects for 2000. The funding wouldcover $72.6 million for 43 Core projects, widely beneficial to theentire industry and gas users and $25.4 million for 22 Non-Coreprojects targeted to specific activities and major market segments.In addition to the FERC-directed portion of the budget, GRIanticipates receiving about $53 million in cofunding from industryand govenrment sources in 2000. The filing Tuesday marked the thirdyear of the seven-year transition to an all-voluntary R&Dprogram. In 2001 the funding through FERC will drop to $70 million,then $60 million in 2002-2004. At the end of that period thefunding will be voluntary.

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) unanimously approvedthe proposed merger of American Electric Power Co. of Columbus, OH,and Dallas-based Central and South West Corp.

Exxon and Mobil said yesterday they expect antitrust reviews oftheir proposed $88 billion merger will be completed by the end ofthe third quarter. The companies filed the formal pre-mergernotification with the European Commission on May 3. Under the EC’sregulatory framework, that process should be completed around theend of September. As a result of discussions with the Federal TradeCommission, the companies believe that the FTC process can becompleted in the same time period. Shareholders of both companiesare scheduled to vote on the deal on May 27.

The Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) gave its blessing to the proposedmerger of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. and CalEnergy Co. Inc.last week, removing the final regulatory hurdle to a transactionthat will combine and complement the assets and expertise of a U.S.utility with those of a United Kingdom utility. The deal isexpected to be completedon Friday.

U.S. Northeast gas demand would increase by 4.4 Bcf/d ifproposed environmental regulations are implemented as planned andnuclear capacity is retired, according to a recent study by WEFAtitled Northeast Gas Markets: Opportunities and Risks. The studyevaluates the Northeast gas market under a number of scenarios. Itinvestigates the impact of environmental regulations, nuclearretirements, electricity demand growth, and pipeline capacityadditions on prices and gas demand in the U.S. Northeast.

Viking Gas Transmission’s proposed expansion of its existingsystem in Minnesota would have “no significant impact” onenvironmental conditions provided the pipeline follows certainmitigation measures during construction, according to a FERC staffenvironmental assessment (EA) released last week.

The Department of Energy (DOE) proposed a $10 million cut infunding for natural gas research and development (R&ampD) as partof a $17.8 billion budget for fiscal year 2000 that it forwarded toCongress last week.