Serving

Citing a need to meet future growth in the region, NW Natural, agas utility serving 477,000 customers in Washington, announcedplans to build a 52-mile, 24-inch pipeline from its existingfacilities near North Plains, WA, to the Williams Gas Pipeline inMolalla, WA. The company said yesterday it has filed a Notice ofIntent with the Energy Facility Siting Council (EFSC), a divisionof the Oregon Department of Energy. The total cost for theexpansion, which NW Natural said would be complete by 2004, is $58million.

Fall River Gas Co., a small LDC serving 47,000 customers inSoutheast Massachusetts, announced last week it received an offerto be bought at a value of $23.50/share, but did not provide anymore details. The company said its board of directors was takingthe proposal under advisement and had formed a committee to reviewits options. If accepted at the announced price, the transactionwould be valued at $51.7 million.

Western Resources yesterday threatened to cut its losses andsell the company to a national energy conglomerate because of adecision by the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) to reopen thedocket on its merger with Kansas City Power and Light. The KCCissued an order late Monday to reopen the merger docket because ofa stipulation and agreement Western signed with the Missouri PublicService Commission staff and others in the Missouri docket.

Equitable Resources signed a definitive agreement to buyCarnegie Natural Gas Co., a gas utility and USX-Marathon Groupsubsidiary serving 9,000 residential, commercial and industrialcustomers in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, for an undisclosed sumlast Tuesday. The purchase increased Equitable’s natural gasthroughput 27% and increased its production in Appalachia 9%. Thecompanies hope to close the deal late this year or early next year.

Equitable Resources signed a definitive agreement to buyCarnegie Natural Gas Co., a gas utility and USX-Marathon Groupsubsidiary serving 9,000 residential, commercial and industrialcustomers in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, for an undisclosed sumTuesday. The purchase increased Equitable’s natural gas throughput27% and increased its production in Appalachia 9%. The companieshope to close the deal late this year or early next year.

The Amoco processing plant serving Destin Pipeline is havingproblems with its liquids handling facility, reducing the handlingcapacity by 50% as of Monday, according to the Destin bulletinboard. Amoco estimates the reduction will last about a month. Thereis enough remaining capacity to process current daily liquidsvolumes, according to Destin, but if those volumes increase beyondAmoco’s capabilities the pipeline “could be forced to take furtheraction should the quality of the gas not meet market requirements.”

A combination of Dominion Resources and CNG would form thenation’s fourth largest electric and gas utility, serving nearly 4million retail customers in five states. Market capitalization ofthe combined entity will exceed $25 billion-consisting of about$14.5 billion in equity, $9.5 billion in debt and minorityinterests, and $1.1 billion in preferred stock.

Serving a projected 30 Tcf natural gas market in 2010 willrequire “substantial” expansion of the existing interstate pipelineand storage infrastructure, but the level of construction isn’texpected to be out of line with what the two areas have experiencedin recent years, according to a study released last week by INGAAFoundation Inc. This means that pipe and compressor manufacturersand construction contractors shouldn’t face any problems in meetingthe demand, it said.

Serving residential and small commercial customers is a smallmargin business and Columbia Energy is planning its strategyaccordingly for its entry into the Georgia market. Columbia won’tbe sinking large dollars into a statewide brand name advertisingcampaign as several other retail marketers did prior to the Nov. 1start-up of the largest retail unbundling in the country. Instead,Columbia plans an aggressive direct marketing program that focuseson attractive pricing and customer service.