Small

Both large and small exploration and production companies shoulduse the same philosophy to create value for their shareholders:manage the present to enable the future, advised Conoco Inc.Executive Vice President Robert McKee III at Arthur Andersen’sEnergy Symposium in Houston yesterday.

A small Massachusetts local distributor last week asked FERC towaive a Tennessee Gas Pipeline tariff restriction on capacityreleases that it claims could “frustrate” the drive towardscompetition in the state’s natural gas market.

Now that most of the production data for the third quarter isin, analysts generally are saying they “told you so” because U.S.gas production is barely making desperately needed gains.Production is, however, growing slightly more than expected, andsome observers see huge gains to be made next year.

A small Massachusetts local distributor has asked FERC to waivea Tennessee Gas Pipeline tariff restriction that it claims could”frustrate” efforts to unbundle the natural gas market in thestate.

Now that most of the production data for the third quarter isin, analysts generally are saying they “told you so” because U.S.gas production is barely making desperately needed gains.Production is, however, growing slightly more than expected andsome observers see huge production gains to be made next year.

After gapping higher on the open for the third straight session,natural gas futures struggled sideways Thursday as bulls cooledtheir heels following a 7-day, 25% price rally. That choppy tradingactivity, along with an early foray into negative territory wereenough to fill in yesterday’s chart gap and prompting severaltraders to look for profit taking today.

Consolidation hasn’t stopped and, in fact, will play a big rolein the future for both large and small players in the oil and gasindustry, said David Moore, a strategic practices consultant forAndersen Consulting.

Consolidation hasn’t stopped and, in fact, will play a big rolein the future for both large and small players in the oil and gasindustry, said David Moore, a strategic practices consultant forAndersen Consulting.

Florida Gas Transmission said Wednesday morning a small leak in its22-inch mainline in southeastern Texas (see Daily GPI, Oct. 4) had been repaired and the line wasback in service. The pipeline resumed accepting nominations at allpoints in Zone 1 for Wednesday’s Intraday 1 cycle.