Shift

It appears increasingly likely that development of 35 Tcf of gasreserves in Alaska and another 6-9 Tcf in the Mackenzie Deltaregion of the Northwest Territories will be headed down parallelbut separate paths. Both projects, however, seem to be picking upspeed in reaction to the current favorable market situation.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week basicallytold El Paso Natural Gas to continue full-steam ahead on itsreallocation process at the Topock, AZ, delivery point at theSouthern California border despite pleas by Southern California Gasthat its ratepayers could suffer irreparable harm from the plan.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week told El PasoNatural Gas to continue full-steam ahead on its reallocationprocess at the Topock, AZ, delivery point into Southern Californiadespite pleas by Southern California Gas that its ratepayers couldsuffer irreparable harm from the plan.

The future of merchant power will be inhibited unless there arenew approaches and new perceptions about the technical, economicand political approaches applied, according to a panel of expertsat GasMart/Power 2000 Tuesday in Denver. Regardless of what preciseindustry changes are made, not all of the proposed new power plantswill get built, and distributed generation ultimately will have toplay a role to satisfy the expected growing demand that equates toabout 5 Tcf of added gas over the next 10 years, according topanelists discussing “The Runaway World of Merchant Power.”

“This gas market is stuck in neutral gear,” lamented a westerntrader Monday. “We’re seeing about the same prices as on Friday, soyou could almost ‘cut and paste’ those notes into today’s report.”Sure enough, except for a moderate spike at Transco Zone 6-NYC thatwas retreating in late action, Monday’s quotes maintained thepredominantly flat market that has prevailed since last Tuesday.

AES Corp., a major electric generation and distribution company, continued to shift its focus onto downstream operations by forming a new subsidiary, Power Direct, to compete for electricity and natural gas retail customers in U.S. markets. Power Direct already is licensed to sell electricity in New Jersey and anticipates the receipt of a license in Pennsylvania by the end of August. The company plans to begin marketing in those states in the near future.

AES Corp., a major electric generation and distribution company,continued to shift its focus onto downstream operations by forminga new subsidiary, Power Direct, to compete for electricity andnatural gas retail customers in U.S. markets, the company saidyesterday. Power Direct is already licensed to sell electricity inNew Jersey and anticipates the receipt of a license in Pennsylvaniaby the end of August. The company plans to begin marketing in thosestates in the near future.

A strong cash market and a shift in attention from the bearishsupply situation to the bullish demand forecasts collaboratedThursday to send futures prices spiraling higher. That enabled theDecember contract to move through a couple of key chart levels enroute to its settlement of $2.553. Estimated volume, which has beennotably less than usual this week, registered a respectable 88,159.

A newly released Gas Research Institute study examining theshift in perceptions of the U.S. gas resource base, titled”Changing Perceptions Of Remaining U.S. Conventional GasResources,” discusses how the move — from the shortage mentalityof the 1970s to today’s view that gas is abundantly available –has resulted from an interplay of factors. Factors discussedinclude increased exploration success rates in frontier plays,improved gas well recoveries and continued reserve appreciationactivity in existing fields. GRI, with Energy and EnvironmentalAnalysis Inc. of Arlington, VA, developed the study.