Scored

Republicans scored a key procedural victory Wednesday when the Senate overwhelmingly voted to move ahead with debate on legislation to open up millions of acres in the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil and natural gas leasing.

In Wednesday’s trading for flows on the first official day of hurricane season, prices gave back part of the big gains they had scored Tuesday. A 3.1-cent prior-day screen loss (which occurred after the cessation of Tuesday’s cash trading, during which futures had been in positive territory) and minor losses of cooling load in some areas were chiefly responsible for the declines.

Western utilities have scored a major victory in their effort to get out from under their multi-million-dollar power contracts that they negotiated with Enron Corp. affiliates during the power crisis of 2000-2001.

Independent oil and natural gas producers scored a big victory Wednesday when House-Senate conferees approved a proposal that would establish a tax credit for marginal oil and gas wells when energy prices drop to low levels as part of the conference report on the broad corporate tax cut legislation (H.R. 4520).

Houston-based independent Ultra Petroleum Inc. scored once again in improving its proved reserves last year, upping its stake in its gas-rich Wyoming assets 53% to 1.073 Tcfe from 2002’s total of 700.5 Bcfe. Year-end audited proved reserves included 1.02 Tcf and 8.34 million bbl, while proved-plus-probable totaled 2.1 Tcfe.

El Paso Natural Gas customers scored a key victory when FERC rejected a tariff proposal that would have allowed the pipeline to credit shippers with only partial reservation charges in the event a scheduled maintenance kept it from delivering natural gas.

El Paso Natural Gas customers scored a key victory Friday when FERC rejected a tariff proposal that would have allowed the pipeline to credit shippers with only partial reservation charges in the event a scheduled maintenance prevented it from delivering natural gas.

EnCana Corp. has apparently scored success with a new natural gas well test in its suspended Deep Panuke project offshore Nova Scotia and could drill a second shallow-water well by the end of October, according to the company’s senior vice president for the East Coast. However, El Paso Corp., which two years ago proposed a gas pipe from Nova Scotia into the U.S. Northeast, said it would delay its project until more discoveries are made.

EnCana Corp. has apparently scored success with a new natural gas well test in its suspended Deep Panuke project offshore Nova Scotia and could drill a second shallow-water well by the end of October, according to the company’s senior vice president for the East Coast. However, El Paso Corp., which two years ago proposed a gas pipe from Nova Scotia into the U.S. Northeast, said it would delay its project until more discoveries are made.