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Turning attention away from the subject of increased domestic natural gas production and increased imports for a change, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham on Wednesday launched the Department of Energy’s (DOE) public awareness campaign to educate businesses, homeowners and consumers on ways they can cut energy bills by practicing smart energy use.

With the subject of natural gas storage becoming a key topic as the industry continues its injection season, the battle to have adequate stocks by the time the country enters the winter heating season will rely on weather and gas-powered generation.

With the subject of natural gas storage becoming a key topic as the industry continues its injection season, the battle to have adequate stocks by the time the country enters the winter heating season will rely on weather and gas-powered generation.

Citing forecasted weather and projected demand on its system, Sonat said eight delivery groups would become subject to an OFO Type 3 effective with the start of Saturday’s gas day until further notice. OFO penalties are $15/Dth for any delivery point overtakes exceeding 102% of a shipper’s daily entitlement. The pipeline also began allocating/limiting interruptible capacity in four other groups Saturday.

MRT posted a System Protection Warning that becomes effective with the start of Tuesday’s gas day. It is subject to these conditions: MRT will not schedule any Main Line IT, AOR or imbalance volumes for delivery north of Glendale, AR; firm volumes will be limited to their primary direction of flow; MRT is not accepting short imbalance positions; and shippers may not nominate supply from existing long imbalance positions. Saying it has capacity available on the East Line, MRT urged shippers who were relying on Main Line IT, AOR and/or imbalance volumes to re-source supply to the East Line or reduce applicable delivery volumes in order to avoid customer-specific OFOs.

Effective with the start of Tuesday’s gas day, MRT is posting a System Protection Warning subject to these conditions: (1) MRT will not schedule any Main Line IT, AOR (authorized overrun) or imbalance volumes for delivery north of Glendale, AR; (2) firm volumes will be limited to their primary direction of flow; (3) MRT is not accepting short imbalance positions; and (4) shippers may not nominate supply from existing long imbalance positions. Saying it has capacity available on the East Line, MRT urged shippers who were relying on Main Line IT, AOR and/or imbalance volumes to re-source supply to the East Line or reduce applicable delivery volumes in order to avoid OFOs.

Duke Energy announced Wednesday that the effective date for its acquisition of Westcoast Energy Inc. will be today, subject to the satisfaction of certain customary closing conditions. The transaction includes the acquisition of all outstanding common shares of Westcoast in exchange for a combination of cash, Duke common shares and exchangeable shares of a Canadian subsidiary of Duke that are substantially equivalent to and exchangeable on a one-for-one basis for Duke common shares. Under the terms of the agreement and based on an expected effective date of March 14, an exchange ratio of 0.7711 will be used to calculate the number of Duke common shares and exchangeable shares to be issued in exchange for Westcoast common shares. As a result of the anticipated closing of the acquisition, it was expected that Westcoast common shares would cease trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange at the close of trading on Wednesday, and the exchangeable shares will begin regular trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange today under the symbol “DX.” First announced in late September 2001, the transaction is valued at $8.5 billion, including $4 billion in debt assumption (see Daily GPI, Sept. 21, 2001). The move is expected to greatly expand Duke’s North American natural gas pipeline holdings and position it for a strong role in future gas infrastructure expansions.

The transaction, subject to approval by Pennzoil’s stockholders and customary regulatory reviews, is expected to close in the second half of 2002 and is expected to add to Shell’s earnings and cash flow in the first full year after it is completed. Shell’s estimated pre-tax benefits from the transaction will total about $140 million a year by 2004. One-time transaction costs were estimated at $100 million.

Senate repeal of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act (CFMA), which would subject trading of over-the-counter energy derivatives to greater regulatory oversight, “would rescind significant advances” that have been brought about by the 14-month-old law, and in the end could accelerate the flight to overseas markets, warned the head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).