Redistributed

A Senate report’s conclusion that the natural gas and oilindustries aren’t likely to be ready for the computer-relatedsystem challenges of the Year 2000 is based on “out-of-date”information that “misses [the] significant progress the industrieshave made” during the past six months, said major industry tradegroups.

Energy Secretary Bill Richardson has called on FERC to issue anoffshore policy that’s conducive to private-sector investment innew technologies and the natural gas infrastructure in the Gulf ofMexico. Such a policy would be in keeping with the Clintonadministration’s 1993 domestic natural gas and oil initiative, hewrote in a letter to Chairman James Hoecker.

NIPSCO Industries is changing its name to NiSource Inc.(pronounced Nye-source), in an attempt to signal a new directionfor the company as a multi-state supplier of energy and waterresources and related services. The company’s logo will remain thesame, continuing to incorporate beams bursting from a point oflight.

“Following the screen”-a market catch-phrase that hasn’t been asmuch in vogue in recent weeks as it used to be-regained popularityMonday as cash prices had little else on which to base modestfirming. New quotes ranged from essentially flat in the Californiaand Northeast markets to as much as a nickel or so higher at pointssuch as the Chicago citygate and El Paso-San Juan (Blanco). Withweather in most areas staying mild and the storage situation stillbearish, it’s hard to see where else beside futures that cash couldhave derived any strength, sources said.

Some would say that bull traders have endured a year’s worth ofbearish price news already this year as consistentlywarmer-than-normal weather forecasts each Monday have been followedby lower-than-expected storage withdrawal figures Wednesday. Thisone-two combo has done a number on natural gas prices, which haveplumbed to near-record lows amid almost non-existent volatility.But for at least a day, that was a distant memory Monday asshort-covering, egged on by a slew of fundamental and technicalfactors, buoyed the prompt-April contract 7.3 cents to $1.701.

Northwest Pipeline said it was able to keep all but a smallpercentage of markets whole after its 26-inch mainline explodedabout 8:20 p.m. PST Friday in the Columbia River Gorge area nearStevenson, WA, about 32 miles east of Portland (see Daily GPI,March 1). The rupture caused a fireball, but no injuries werereported and pipeline workers had the situation controlled withinan hour, a spokeswoman said.

Salomon Smith Barney (SSB) said it is expecting a decline of 400MMcf/d in gas production during the first quarter of this yearcompared to the same period last year and a drop of about 1 Bcf/dby the second half of the year because of the sharp decline indrilling activity. SSB is forecasting gas production in 1999 willbe down 1 Bcf/d compared to last year.

A top-ranking FERC official last week dismissed suggestions thatthe Commission was dragging its feet on key pipeline projects thatwould ship natural gas to the Northeast – namely the proposedMillennium, SupplyLink, MarketLink and Independence lines. “…[W]elove new pipelines,” said Richard O’Neill, director of the Officeof Economic Policy, “but we don’t want these new pipelines to turninto stranded costs.” Also, he cited environmental concerns.

Texas Land Commissioner David Dewhurst last week presented aplan to a special senate committee on electric utilityrestructuring that would allow the land commissioner to convert thestate’s oil and gas earned from public lands into electricity andsell it to Texas schools, state agencies, and local governments.