Streamlines

In a bold move to improve its competitive advantage, ChevronTexaco Corp. said last week it would sell some of its non-strategic U.S. assets, cut up to 200 U.S. jobs, consolidate several U.S. offices and consider whether to sell some of its producing and midstream assets in western Canada. The program, which only targets North American operations, is expected to be completed in 2004.

Last week Amerada Hess Corp. shook up its operations to improve its bottom line by selling 26 of its Gulf of Mexico shelf properties to Anadarko Petroleum Corp., transferring ownership of North Sea properties to EnCana Corp. and laying off of about 30% of its workforce.

The nation’s largest municipal utility, the City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), has the dual challenge this month of streamlining its natural gas-buying abilities to conform with a new city charter and also adapting to a new general manager following the departure of the high-profile S. David Freeman, who now heads up California’s new state power authority. Freeman’s plans to take interests in pipelines or production have been placed on the back-burner due to favorable transportation and commodity prices right now, a department source said.

The Texas Railroad Commission said last week that its T-4, Application For Permit to Operate A Pipeline in Texas is now available on line. With the new system, which is expected to facilitate more cross-border natural gas pipelines, an operator may complete and return the application through the Internet to the TRC.

In an effort to boost liquidity at trading points, theindustry’s two major electronic energy trading systems, AltraStreamline and QuickTrade, announced last week they will become onesystem by the end of the year, possibly sooner. Altra is buyingQuickTrade and QuickTrade Canada from subsidiaries of Dynegy,Sempra Energy and Nicor for an undisclosed sum.

In the view of local distribution companies, standardization canbe a good thing if it streamlines business practices. However,standardization efforts that ignore the uniqueness of individualLDCs, their customers and the states and markets they operate inare unacceptable. LDCs’ view of GISB and its standards is onereason cited for flagging LDC involvement in the standardsorganization.

NUI Corp., parent company of six eastern gas local distributioncompanies, announced a restructuring plan designed to streamlinethe company in preparation for a more competitive marketplace. Theplan includes greater emphasis on nonregulated business operationsand a voluntary early retirement program offered to 88 of its 1,161employees, including four members of NUI’s executive managementteam, among them Lyle Motley, president of the company’s southerndivision. Further downsizing is expected once the companydetermines where it can achieve greater efficiencies in its effortto generate higher revenues from its nonregulated businesses.