Success

If the Texas Public Utilities Commission is measuring the projected success of its deregulation program by the pilot program set to begin this summer, officials might wonder if they’re doing something wrong. Electric deregulation takes effect across the state on Jan. 1, but so far, it appears that customers — especially residential ones — are a little wary of how it works and what they will get out of it.

Houston-based Apache Corp. is finding sweet success along the Outer Continental Shelf of the Gulf of Mexico, reporting that it has made five discoveries and 13 successful development wells — moving it up as the fourth ranked OCS producer for the first half of 2001. With the new wells, Apache’s current net production along the OCS is 345 MMcf and 34,000 b/d.

Despite their success in keeping the market in negative territory for most of Thursday’s trading session, natural gas bears had very little to show for their efforts. Since plummeting 13 cents in the minutes following a larger-than-expected storage injection Wednesday, July natural gas futures have actually gained ground, with prices rising late Wednesday and then hanging around the $3.80 level yesterday. Although the change column shows a 1.1-cent decline for the day, it belies the market’s inability not only to test support at $3.67, but also to make a lower-low on the day.

Vancouver-based Westcoast Energy Inc. reported Monday that its recent open season on its Southern Mainline was a complete success. In addition to fully subscribing the 200 MMcf/d open season for additional transportation capacity on its Southern Mainline, the company announced that it awarded 50 MMcf/d of additional transportation capacity on its Westcoast Alberta line.

In a race to produce increasing amounts of natural gas to keep up with the nation’s growing demand, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. reported last Tuesday that it is continuing its work to find and produce new gas reserves from oil fields. The company announced its Fife Unit #2 well in Central Texas, which just came online, is producing natural gas at a rate of 51 MMcf/d.

In a race to produce increasing amounts of natural gas to keep up with the nation’s growing demand, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. reported Tuesday that it is continuing its work to find and produce new gas reserves from oil fields. The company announced its Fife Unit #2 well in Central Texas, which just came online, is producing natural gas at a rate of 51 MMcf/d.

CapacityCenter.com —ÿa B2B e-commerce website — releasedresearch results yesterday that shows that the pipeline capacityrelease marketplace is responding positively to the price capremoval provisions of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’sOrder 637.

Joining the rather large list of third quarter 2000 earningssuccess stories, Williams reported net income that was more thanquadruple the figure for the same period last year. Its profitsrose to $121.1 million ($0.27 per share) from $28.1 million ($0.06per share).

Joining the list of third quarter 2000 earnings success stories,Williams reported its third quarter net income more than quadrupledover last year’s figure for the same time period, from $28.1million ($0.06 per share) to $121.1 million ($0.27 per share). Thecompany attributed the growth to its fourth successive quarter ofyear-over-year earnings improvement within its energy businesses.