Running

Socrates did not say “an unexamined energy industry is not worthrunning.” But he might as well have. As long as there is gas andoil in the ground, it seems, there will be those willing to poreover statistics and share their findings.

Much like the day before, cash prices rose by a dime or moreTuesday almost purely on weather fundamentals. Unlike the daybefore, western points failed to lag behind the overall marketlargely due to some supply shortness. The result was generallytight basis all around, ranging from the Rockies in the $2.30sthrough the Gulf Coast and Midcontinent in the $2.40s and Midwestcitygates in the $2.50s to Appalachia and California in the $2.60s.Only Northeast citygates in the $2.80s and $2.90s put muchappreciable difference between themselves and the rest of themarket.

For a while Thursday it looked like August prices would keeprunning higher based on a strong screen, continued heavy powergeneration load and Wednesday afternoon’s super-bullish storagereport. However, the uptrend crested and began subsiding a bit whena late “meltdown” occurred in September futures, sources said.

El Paso Energy Communications Co., a subsidiary of Houston-basedEl Paso Energy; Touch America, a subsidiary of The Montana PowerCo.; and PF.Net LLC of Vancouver, a privately held company, plan tolaunch a $150 million project to create a long-haul fiber-opticnetwork linking Los Angeles and Houston.

Sempra Energy International said it began construction on a23-mile, $35 million pipeline running from California to Mexicolast week, adding to the already-extensive activity the company isinvolved in south of the border. The 300 MMcf/d pipeline isscheduled to begin service to the Presidente Juarez power stationat Rosarito, Baja California by December.

Northwest began running a 96-hour test on the Snohomish (WA)Compressor Station’s Unit No. 1 Friday. The test, along with warmerweather and reduced weekend damand, did not allow Northwest toreceive the full 1,097,000 dekatherms of total supply at theSumas/Sipi throughput point. The pipeline capped Sumas/Sipi volumesat 1,000,000 dekatherms Sunday and raised that to 1,050,000dekatherms for Monday’s gas day. No constraint is scheduled todayas the work was expected to end Monday evening.

Scana’s South Carolina Pipeline Corp. announced Wednesday itplans to build an interstate pipeline running from South Carolinato North Carolina, and in the process held no punches on promotingits pipeline over the proposed Carolina Light and Power(CP&L)/Sonat Palmetto Pipeline project. Scana did not releasedetails of its proposal, but did say formal descriptions will beannounced in the coming weeks.

Sempra Energy International is in the running for its third gasproject in Mexico with its bid to build distribution infrastructureto serve the cities of Torreon, Gomez, Palacio, Ciudad Lerdo, andDurango with the La Laguna-Durango system. Mexico’s EnergyRegulatory Commission (CRE) will announce the winning bidder nolater than May 20.

Most sources were seeing bidweek prices running approximatelyflat Monday compared to the previous Friday, although a marketersaid some Southwest numbers were “up about a penny.” On the otherhand, a buyer who paid in the low $1.70s in the NGPL Midcontinentpool Friday said he was hearing of $1.69 deals Monday.