Radar

Flying low under the normal local media and environmental radar screens, Japanese mega-conglomerate Mitsubishi is pushing ahead with preliminary plans for building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal along the Southern California coast in Long Beach Harbor on part of a former U.S. Naval Base. A local official connected to the Japanese giant said it is only a few months away from making formal federal energy and environmental filings.

Flying low under the normal local media and environmental radar screens, Japanese mega-conglomerate Mitsubishi is pushing ahead with preliminary plans for building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal along the Southern California coast in Long Beach Harbor on part of a former U.S. Naval Base. A local official connected to the Japanese giant said it is only a few months away from making formal federal energy and environmental filings.

True to statements last week that acquisitions were on the radar screen (see Daily GPI, Sept. 7), Canadian Hunter Exploration Ltd. said Monday it has acquired a Canadian company and another in Argentina. The Canadian assets, acquired from a private company for C$22.5 million, include property in the Chedderville and Garrington areas of West Central Alberta, adjacent to Canadian Hunter property. Neither acquisition is expected to materially impact Canadian Hunter’s 2001 production forecast.

People that had been dismissing Tropical Storm Frances as barelya blip on the gas market’s radar screen Wednesday were paying muchcloser attention Thursday as production outages grew and cashprices went up in the neighborhood of a dime at nearly all points.Prices in areas not directly affected by the storm outages werebeing pulled up largely by the futures screen’s big jump, sourcessaid. Also, the AGA’s Wednesday afternoon report of a smallish 35Bcf in storage withdrawals last week helped set the stage for priceincreases everywhere, a Texas marketer said.