Reported

Saying linepack had stabilized, El Paso canceled an UnauthorizedOverpull Penalty alert (see Daily, Aug. 11) Friday.

Wall Street was awash in reports Monday that Akron, OH-basedFirstEnergy Corp. was negotiating to acquire GPU Inc. ofMorristown, NJ, for more than $10 billion in a transaction thatwould create one of the top energy utility companies in the nation.

Sonat reported being notified Tuesday morning that beginningtoday, Ocean Energy will be performing maintenance that requiresshut-in of the Main Pass 153 receipt point until further notice.Sonat declared a force majeure and said it will not schedule anynominations at the point during the outage.

A survey of second quarter financial reports from 25 producersreveals a 0.5% decline in U.S. gas production compared to 2Q99. Outof 25 producers, fourteen reported lower production and basinexploration. Pioneer Resources, Ocean Energy, Union Pacific andKerr McGee showed the largest U.S. production declines.

Sea Robin Pipeline reported being notified by Amerada Hess,operator of the Sea Robin Gas Processing Plant, that the plant hasresumed processing gas after a period of maintenance that began lastweek (see Daily GPI, July 12). Thepipeline resumed generating LTA (liquids transaction agreement)nominations Tuesday.

TransCanada PipeLines Ltd., through its wholly-owned subsidiary,TransCanada OSP Holdings Ltd., reported last week it has purchasedan additional 29.9% interest in an Ocean State Power (OSP) plantfrom National Grid USA for an estimated $61 million, bringing itsfull ownership interest in the OSP facility to 100%. Thetransaction is expected to close by September, pending regulatoryapprovals. The 560 MW, combined-cycle plant, which is located inBurrville, RI, is considered one of the largest gas-firedfacilities in the Northeast region. It is fueled by 100 MMcf/d ofgas from western Canada.In addition to full ownership in the OSPplant, TransCanada announced last week that it plans to build twonew gas-fired co-generation plants in Alberta.TransCanada PowerL.P. owns a total of six power plants in Ontario, British Columbiaand New York State, with a seventh plant nearing completion.

TransCanada PipeLines Ltd., through its wholly-owned subsidiary,TransCanada OSP Holdings Ltd., reported last week it purchased anadditional 29.9% interest in an Ocean State Power (OSP) plant fromNational Grid USA for an estimated $61 million, making it the soleowner of the OSP facility. The transaction is expected to close bySeptember, pending regulatory approvals.

Tennessee confirmed a reported leak on its 26-inch 507K-100 Linein the West Cameron 177 area offshore southwestern Louisiana. Theimpact on area gas has not been determined yet, Tennessee said, butproduction from West Cameron 192 to onshore Grand Chenier could beaffected. A pipeline spokesman said Monday afternoon he understoodthat repairs might have been completed already, but he was unableto reach field personnel for confirmation.

Northwest reported that because it has been unable to deliverspec quality gas off the south end due to increased hydrocarbondewpoint levels, starting today it will be required to shut in sixinterconnect points: Piceance Quick Cycle, Grand Valley, SandSprings, Grand Gas, Premier-Bar-X and Bar-X. The pipeline said itwould contact each affected interconnect operator to discuss gasquality details.