States

Two producers-Husky Oil Ltd. and Renaissance Energy Ltd.- havejumped into the ranks of top 10 Canadian suppliers of natural gasto the United States, according to a scorecard kept by the U.S.Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy.

Two producers-Husky Oil Ltd. and Renaissance Energy Ltd.-havejumped into the ranks of top 10 Canadian suppliers of natural gasto the United States, says a scorecard kept by the U.S. Departmentof Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy.

Shareholders of New Century Energies and Northern States PowerCo. approved the merger of the two companies yesterday. The newcompany will be named Xcel Energy Inc. At separate specialshareholder meetings held today in Denver and Minneapolis, morethan 83% of the voting shares of both NCE and NSP voted in favor ofthe merger. “This transaction will be accretive immediately, willprovide a balanced platform for growth, and will provide NCE andNSP customers with continued low-cost, reliable energy,” said NCEPresident Wayne Brunetti, who will become CEO of Xcel Energy. NCEsaid 93% of its shareholders representing 78% of its overall sharesapproved the deal, and 83% of NSP’s shareholders representing 62%of its shares okayed the transaction. The merger, announced onMarch 25, still requires state and federal regulatory approval. Theapproval process is expected to be completed in nine to 15 months.Under terms of the merger agreement, holders of NCE stock willreceive 1.55 shares of stock in Xcel Energy for each of their NCEshares. Each share of NSP stock will become one share of XcelEnergy.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge signed House Bill 1331 last Tuesday, deregulating many aspects of the states gas industry and paving the way for statewide customer choice to begin Nov. 1.

The United States didn’t see much of a winter, but you can holdonto your hats this summer because the hurricane season may blowyou away.

The United States didn’t see much of a winter, but you can holdonto your hats this summer because the hurricane season may blowyou away.

Burgeoning gas demand in the southeastern United States andChicago’s supply hub status have spawned another pipeline project.The latest comes from Columbia Gulf Transmission, AGL Resources,and MCN Energy Group. The trio last week began a six-week openseason offering up to 250,000 Dth/d of capacity on the proposedVolunteer Pipeline.

Burgeoning gas demand in the southeastern United States hasspawned another pipeline project. The latest comes from ColumbiaGulf Transmission, AGL Resources, and MCN Energy Group. The trioyesterday began a six-week open season offering up to 250,000 Dth/dof capacity on the proposed Volunteer Pipeline.

In a classic states’ rights confrontation, California ischallenging FERC jurisdiction over the operation of the state’s twononprofit organizations created to make electric restructuring runsmoothly, the Independent System Operator (ISO) overseeing thetransmission grid and the Power Exchange (PX) providing a wholesalespot electricity market. Two bills have been proposed in the statelegislature to change the status of the ISO and PX in directresponse to FERC jurisdictional questions.