Recent

Vastar Resources has placed much of its hopes for the future inthe Gulf of Mexico as evidenced by its recent deal to acquireinterests in 23 producing fields through a three-way deal withAtlantic Richfield and Mobil (See Daily GPI Aug. 5, 1998). However,the company realizes it is not alone in pinning its hopes on theGulf and was wise to begin its Gulf of Mexico program when it did.

Over the next decade as the Rocky Mountain is saved byincreasing pipeline transportation, the trend of reserve growth inrecent years will finally pay off in dramatic production increases,Fred Julander, past chairman of the Colorado Oil & Gas Assoc.told the group’s annual meeting.

The recent price spikes and generation outages in the Midwestpower market have opened the door wide for the natural gas industryto capture a greater share of the industrial energy market, says asenior economist.

Given the recent price spikes in the Midwest and Californiaelectricity markets, a California power agency has called onCongress to take the necessary steps to rein in unleashed marketpower when it takes up restructuring legislation next year.

Midcoast Energy Resources marked another in a chain of recentgrowth spurts with a definitive agreement to buy the Anadarkopipeline system from El Paso Field Services. Under the agreement,Midcoast will acquire the Anadarko system in Beckham and RogerMills counties, OK, and Hemphill, Roberts and Wheeler counties, TX.The system is made up of more than 696 miles of primarily 16-inchand 20-inch pipeline with an average throughput of 151 MMcf/day anda total capacity of 345 MMcf/day. The system gathers gas from about250 wells and includes a 40 MMcf/day gas processing facility, 11compressor stations with a total of more than 14,000 hp andinterconnections with eight major interstate and intrastatepipeline systems.

“The bear market is over, the bull market has begun.” That’s howone industry broker succinctly summarised the recent developmentsin the natural gas futures market yesterday. The July contractadded to its latest fortunes by climbing another 7.8 cents tosettle Monday at $2.362. In so doing, July is now “well above anypossible downtrend line you can realistically draw,” a source toldGPI.

Describing Northern Natural Gas’ recent all-new approach torates as “innovative,” FERC yesterday gave the go-ahead for anexamination of its components as “a useful test case” accompanyingthe Commission’s generic regulatory review.

Cash prices slipped lower in most areas yesterday, giving backweather-driven gains earlier in the week. Sources blamed theweakness mainly on the inability of the June futures contract tomuster considerable gains, along with forecasts of moderatingtemperatures going into the weekend. With the exception of minorgains in Sumas and Stanfield, most trading areas lost between 3-5cents Tuesday.

The recent tightening of Henry Hub-New York basis can beattributed to a number of factors: the large amounts of capacitybeing turned back to the pipelines, high inventory levels,competitive residual fuel oil prices and new liquefied natural gasprojects, according to a prominent energy trader.