Recently

With the amount of capital driving today’s energy companies,Statoil Energy recently announced it is searching for a partner tobolster its resource base. A spokesman for the Virginia-basedenergy marketer said the process is moving quickly and the companyhopes to have found a partner by the end of the year.

FERC Chairman James Hoecker said recently he didn’t expect tosee much “consensus” from the natural gas industry on the majorinitiatives in the notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) and noticeof inquiry (NOI). Judging from some of the comments that floodedinto the Commission yesterday, he was right on target.

After slipping 2.5 cents Tuesday, the May natural gas futurescontract climbed back up to just below stubborn support at $2.19yesterday in tenuous trading ahead of the release of the AmericanGas Association (AGA) storage report. May finished the session up 3cents to $2.174.

In an effort to grow its nonregulated business sector, ColumbiaEnergy Group’s Columbia Propane Corp. recently announced a tenderoffer to acquire National Propane Partners for $80.4 million. Theoffer expires April 9. National Propane shareholders will vote inearly May.

In a terse letter to FERC recently, Cuba Wadlington Jr.,Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line’s senior vice president and generalmanager, became the first pipeline representative to formallycriticize the Commission’s recent departure from its long-standingpolicy of issuing preliminary determinations on pipeline expansionapplications.

Dynegy recently announced construction plans for two separate500 MW facilities in the Southeast, making a reality of its promiseto increase its power asset portfolio in the area. With thesefacilities, one located in Heard County, GA and the other locatedin Oldham County, KY, Dynegy will increase its Southeast energyassets from three to five.

While most of the Vector Pipeline project remains dormant,Vector Pipeline L.P. recently announced an open season forshort-term firm transportation service from its proposedinterconnect with Michigan Consolidated Gas at Belle River, MI, tothe Union Gas Ltd. system at Dawn, ON. The company also said itexpects final regulatory approval for the entire Chicago-to-Dawnproject from both the Canadian National Energy Board (NEB) and theU.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) by early April.

Walter Higgins, CEO of AGL Resources Inc., stood and faced themusic recently at the annual shareholders meeting in Atlanta asstock owners voiced their opinions concerning AGL Resources’subsidiary Atlanta Gas Light’s (AGL) over-billing controversy. Thecompany’s earnings did nothing to ease shareholders’ pain. AGLResources’ revenues for this quarter were down $75.2 million from1997 to $323.9 million. Operating margins fell from $145.1 millionin the year-ago quarter to $136.9 million for the quarter endedDec. 31. Weather and poor results stemming from the company’spartnership with Sonat caused the poor performance.

A measure introduced in the New Mexico senate recently was a”good first step” towards opening up the state’s electricityindustry to competition, says the state’s largest utility, althoughit cited certain concerns.