Results

Infant online trading system Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)continues to rack up impressive results, posting over 95 Bcf ofphysical gas trading, along with almost 970 Bcf of financial gastrading and 40 million MWh of power dealing in its first six and ahalf weeks of commercial operation.

Based on the results of its much-anticipated investigation, FERCyesterday found that the market rules and structure for wholesalesales of electricity in California are “seriously flawed,” and thatthey — along with the imbalance in supply and demand — havecaused and will continue to cause “unjust and unreasonable” ratesfor short-term services in markets operated by the CaliforniaIndependent System Operator (Cal-ISO) and California Power Exchange(Cal-PX).

In announcing a 46% increase in third quarter profits led by adoubling of earnings from the company’s nonregulated operations, ElPaso CEO William Wise said last week he expected the company’sacquisition of PG&E Gas Transmission Texas to win finalapprovals from the Federal Trade Commission and the Texas AttorneyGeneral’s office “literally any moment now.” He also said theCoastal merger still is expected to be completed in the fourthquarter.

In announcing a 46% increase in third quarter earnings yesterdayled by a doubling of earnings from the company’s nonregulatedoperations, El Paso CEO William Wise said he expected the company’sacquisition of PG&E Gas Transmission Texas to win finalapprovals from the Federal Trade Commission and the Texas AttorneyGeneral’s office “literally any moment now.” He also said theCoastal merger still is expected to be completed in the fourthquarter.

Conoco reported record results for the third quarter, as strongprices and margins for refined products and record refinerythroughputs produced net income of $523 million, or $0.83 perdiluted share, double that of third quarter 1999. “Earnings were atrecord levels for the third consecutive quarter, and majordiscoveries were made in Vietnam and the deep-water Gulf ofMexico,” said CEO Archie W. Dunham. “In the North Sea, we completedthe Norsk Hydro producing properties acquisition and broughtonstream the Vixen natural gas field. We also announced agroundbreaking 20-year supply contract to deliver Indonesiannatural gas to Malaysia. Great strides are being achieved inexploration. We are extremely encouraged by the Magnolia appraisalwell currently being drilled in the Gulf of Mexico. In addition, weunveiled the industry’s most powerful exploration supercomputerthat allows more cost-effective seismic data analysis. In a relatedstep, we began a massive geophysical survey over 2,000 deep-waterblocks in the Gulf of Mexico, using gravity gradiometry technologyonce used exclusively by the military,” he said. The company’s U.S.gas production was down 2% from 3Q99 levels to 826 MMcf/d. Itstotal net worldwide production was down 4% to 619 Mboe/d.

Having set the world’s water-depth record for a combineddrilling and production platform, Exxon Mobil Corp.’s Hoover andDiana fields now are averaging 140 MMcf of gas and 18,000 barrelsof oil per day from five wells, and contain estimated recoverableresources that exceed 300 million oil-equivalent barrels.

Houston’s 3TEC Energy Corp. yesterday announced successfuldrilling results in St. Mary Parish, LA. The Amy Aycock No. 1 wellin the Garden City Field was drilled to a true vertical depth of15,033 feet, with 18 feet of net pay in the Operc 10 formation. Theoperation is expected to be completed by the end of this month.3TEC is the well operator, and it has a 75% working interest in thoperation. The well is the first in a series of 3-D seismicallydefined prospects expected to be drilled in the next year.

Although industry comments on Order 637 still were tricklinginto FERC late Friday, it was clear that gas producers, both majorsand independents, and industrial customers had some of the biggestproblems with the final order by far, while the interstatepipelines and LDCs sought only minor tweaking of a “discrete” setof issues.

The Northeast differentiated itself from the rest of the marketyet again yesterday. Contrary to Friday’s results when manyNortheast points gained more than 20 cents, however, theNortheast’s attention-grabbing price activity yesterday felldecidedly on the bearish side as Transco Zone 6-NY fell $1 andTetco M3’s average dropped from the high $3.20’s to $3.