Southwest

Deep drilling in the southwest end of California’s central SanJoaquin Valley is awaiting more testing work to prove that backers’claims of substantial new oil and gas supplies below 15,000-footdepths are, in fact, commercially available.

A deep-drilling exploration project in the southwest end of theoil/gas saturated San Joaquin Valley about 45 miles northwest ofBakersfield is moving into the production testing phase with itssponsors, Tri-Valley Oil and Gas, liking what they have seen inpreliminary analyses of the 19,100-foot-deep Project Ekho#1 testwell.

Tennessee reported Wednesday the discovery of a small leak nearMain Line Valve 46 on the 100 Line #1 about 15 miles southwest ofWest Monroe, LA. Repairs are expected to take two days, duringwhich meters upstream of Station 47 (West Monroe) may berestricted, Tennessee said.

Blocked in its bid for neighboring Southwest Gas, Austin,TX-based Southern Union Co. focused on the East, picking upapproval from its board of directors and that of the Fall River GasCo., on a merger agreement.

Petrominerals Corp. of Foothills Ranch, CA, completed theacquisition of a 25% interest in a gas field in southwest Wyoming.Current production from the field is 700 Mcf/d (155 Mcf/d net) fromtwo active wells. The company has committed to participate in thedrilling of two additional wells by year-end and has identified twoshut-in wells it plans to return to production later in the year.

Southwest Power LLC, an entity owned partly by Enron bought LasVegas Cogeneration LP and SUNCO Ltd. from The United Co. Las VegasCogeneration owns a 50 MW combined cycle power plant in North LasVegas. Designated as a qualifying facility under the PublicUtilities Regulatory Policy Act of 1978, the plant delivers powerunder contract to Nevada Power while SUNCO serves as the plant’sthermal host.

The Exploration Company (TXCO) is on a roll in Southwest Texaswith another high producer, its ninth consecutive successfulnatural gas well in the Prickly Pear (Glen Rose) Field west of SanAntonio, near the Mexican border.

While it continues to tangle with Oneok in an effort to acquireSouthwest Gas, Southern Union Co. agreed to merge with PennsylvaniaEnterprises Inc. (PEI). PEI’s Pennsylvania-based operations willbecome the fourth major autonomous division of Southern Union,complementing its Texas, Missouri and Florida operations.

The proposed mega-merger of American Electric Power (AEP) andCentral and Southwest Corp. (CSW) was placed on hold earlier thisweek as FERC set the case for an evidentiary hearing, saying that”sufficient concerns” had been raised about potential market powerin both the transmission and generation arenas.