Report

Despite the growing interest by foreign markets and potentialinvestors in the proposed LNG portion of the Trans-Alaska GasSystem (TAGS), the May 22 deadline set by FERC for start-up of theconstruction of the export project will not be met, says thesponsor of the proposed facility. Yukon Pacific Co. L.P. has askedthe Commission to extend the deadline, which was set back in 1995,until May 2001, saying that a refusal by FERC would be a “serioussetback” and might cause it to abandon the LNG project altogether.

Most cash trading points were down 2-5 cents Thursday, bowing tothe mild temperatures prevalent east of the Rockies and to thescreen’s retreat of nearly 3 cents. Declines at several pointsmatched the amounts by which they had risen on Wednesday. Thesmallest drops tended to be in the West

Houston Industries Power Generation (HIPG) agreed to buySouthern California Edison’s (SCE) Ormond Beach Generating Stationfor $43 million. Ormond Beach has two gas-fired units totaling1,500 MW, and the deal includes land adjacent to SCE’s Coolwaterplant in the Mojave Desert, which Houston Industries bought inNovember.

Tengasco, Inc. of Knoxville, TN, completed its $10 million,28-mile pipeline in Eastern Tennessee. The pipeline originates atthe company’s Swan Creek Natural Gas Field into Rogersville, TN.Hawkins County Utilities District has connected Swan Creek to itsdistribution network. Three small tie-ins and testing of facilitiesremain before Tengasco furnishes gas to East Tennessee bymid-April.

CMS Energy’s CMS Marketing, Services and Trading (CMS-MST) hasacquired 50% of North Carolina-based energy marketer Enline EnergySolutions.

The Clinton administration will announce today a “plan” or “listof principles” for restructuring the electricity industry. “It canbe introduced as legislation. It’s written in legislative language.This is what everyone’s been waiting for,” said Bill Wicker, aspokesman for the Department of Energy.

Three commodity futures exchanges are expected to launch six newelectricity futures and options contracts this year based ondelivery east of the Mississippi and it looks like two Nymexcontracts could be the first to market. The Commodity FuturesTrading Commission yesterday approved the Nymex contracts, whichare based on delivery through the Cinergy transmission system (inOhio) and through the Entergy transmission system (in Louisiana). Athird Nymex electricity contract, based on delivery through thePennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnection transmissionsystem, was not submitted to the CFTC because of recent changes inPJM policies. The PJM contract is expected to be submitted at alater date when the most active trading locations in the PJM poolare identified.

Prosper Business Development Corp. of Columbus, OH, formed adivision to assist energy companies in dealing with marketingchallenges of deregulation. Prosper NRG Marketing offers a varietyof turnkey products designed to enhance marketing efforts to thecommercial and residential segments of the energy market. Theproducts can be used to sell energy without a direct sales force.

Coastal’s Colorado Interstate Gas (CIG) is holding an openseason for a new interstate pipeline between its existing westernterminus in Uintah County, UT, and an interconnection with thePaiute Pipeline Co. system near Elko, NV. The pipe could becompetition to a project announced in January by Williams’Northwest Pipeline and Paiute.