Revised

A revised auction process for firm capacity, described as moremarket responsive, on Kinder Morgan’s Natural Gas Pipeline Companyof America won approval from the Federal Energy RegulatoryCommission yesterday (RP97-431-009).

Energy E-Comm.com last week issued a revised draft of a petitionasking FERC to initiate a notice of inquiry (NOI) into the effectsof e-commerce on the regulated natural gas and power industries.The e-commerce-based company has posted it to its web site soenergy companies can comment further on the petition before it’sformally filed at the Commission by the end of the month.

Energy E-Comm.com has issued a revised draft of a petitionasking FERC to initiate a notice of inquiry (NOI) into the effectsof e-commerce on the regulated natural gas and power industries.The e-commerce-based company has posted it to its Web site soenergy companies can comment further on the petition before it’sformally filed at the Commission later this month.

PaineWebber has revised its composite spot forecast for naturalgas prices upwards by eight cents to $2.20/MMBtu for the remainderof the year. This compares to an industry consensus of $2.08/MMBtu.

Fueled by stronger cash prices and revised weather forecasts,the futures market erupted higher early yesterday as speculativeand commercial traders added to their positions. However, afternotching the highest mark for a spot month since the week endingDecember 12, 1997 at $2.77, the September contact filtered lower ina quiet afternoon session to settle at $2.721, up 2.3 cents on theday. Estimated volume was light, with 62,221 contracts changinghands.

The schedule for an outage of KN Energy’s Pony Express Line, whichbegan Tuesday (see Daily GPI, April 26),has been revised to last through May 27, according to the Williamsbulletin board. Williams is not allowing nominations at the KN-Glavininterconnect (Franklin County, KS) during the outage.

Arthur Andersen launched the KnowledgeSpace Energy Community, arevised and enhanced premium community developed for the energyindustry. By supplementing oil and gas content with information andresources specifically for the utility industry, the EnergyCommunity replaces the Oil & Gas Community in KnowledgeSpace,Arthur Andersen’s gateway to online business information, tools andresources.

Western Resources and Kansas City Power & Light filed anamended application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commissionto approve the Western Resources-KCPL merger and the formation ofWestar Energy, a new electric company.

PacifiCorp is throwing in the towel in its pursuit of Britain’sThe Energy Group (TEG) with the announcement it will not increaseits revised offer for the company. Energy Group Thursday recommended shareholders accept the 4.45 billion pounds ($7.4billion), 840 pence/share, cash offer made by Texas Utilities forthe company. “The Texas Utilities Offer represents excellent valuefor our shareholders and we recommend that they accept,” said DerekBonham, Energy Group chairman.