Report

Under pressure at FERC for buying such a large chunk (40%) ofthe firm transportation capacity to California on El Paso NaturalGas, NGC Corp. announced late yesterday it is releasing 593,122MMBtu/d, or about 40% of the capacity it holds on the pipeline fora one-month term. It is the first quantity of transportationcapacity NGC has released since its negotiated contract with ElPaso became effective Jan. 1 and may appear to be a response toprotesters who have accused the marketing firm of withholdingwestbound capacity in order to prop up capacity prices. “It’spressure from the hearings at FERC last month,” said one observer.A spokeswoman had no comment on why the firm was releasing thecapacity. Demand remains strong in California despite the start ofa shoulder month. “Our goal is not to corner the market but ratherto use what we can,” one NGC marketer said cryptically.

Carolina Power & Light intends to either acquire a naturalgas supply or marketing company or strike a “strategic alliance”with one in a plan to offer customers “one-stop shopping” for theirmajor energy needs.

A U.S. subsidiary of British-Borneo Petroleum Syndicate agreedto acquire 16.67% interest in Discovery Producer Services and itssubsidiary Discovery Gas Transmission. In addition, British-Borneohas the right to increase its ownership to 33.3% over the nextthree years. The transaction is valued at about $83.3 million.

Puget Sound Energy of Bellevue, WA, and Duke Energy Trading andMarketing (DETM) agreed to coordinate marketing and tradingactivities in 14 western states and British Columbia.

Rep. Wes Watkins (R-OK) introduced legislation Wednesday thatwould provide marginal well tax relief for oil and natural gasproducers. This is a “rifle shot approach,” and is not seen as acompanion to the measure on the same issue that Sen. Kay BaileyHutchinson (R-TX) is expected to sponsor later this week.

In a transaction making it the largest independent powerproducer in Texas, Calpine Corp. acquired the remaining 50% interest in Texas Cogeneration Co. (TCC), owner of two gas-firedpower plants in Texas City and Pasadena, TX, with 827 MW ofcapacity. Calpine of San Jose, CA, bought the remaining interest inTCC from Dominion Cogen Inc. for about $53 million, plus contingentpurchase payments beginning in 2000 that could approximate 2.9% ofproject revenue. As part of the deal, Calpine now owns a 7.5%interest in a 165 MW gas-fired cogeneration plant located inBayonne, NJ. Calpine Fuels Texas, a subsidiary of Calpine, buys gasfor the Texas plants from Enron Capital & Trade Resources(ECT). In a related transaction, Calpine Fuels Texas paid about$105 million to ECT to restructure its existing gas contracts.

There’s no point in opening the valves on a new pipeline if noone is there to take the gas, Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline toldFERC this week. The pipeline said its only shipper, affiliate DukeEnergy, has backed out of Phase I of its project, deferring itsrequest for 60 MMcf/d of firm transportation until Nov. 1, 1999. Asa result, Maritimes has requested it be allowed to extend itsin-service date by a year and defer cost-recovery while movingforward on construction of most of the system.

Aquila Energy has won a long-term, $24.3 million contract tosupply gas to to Nebraska municipals under a pre-paid contractdriven by the current low interest rates. Aquila will supply14,419,850 MMBtu over 10 years to Energy America, which isaffiliated with the Nebraska Municipal Power Pool, the MunicipalEnergy Agency of Nebraska and the Nebraska Public Gas Agency.

Trans Energy Inc. said its merger with Natural Gas TechnologiesInc. (NGTI), a privately held oil and gas company based in Dallas,was completed March 26.