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Deepwater field development worldwide is forecast to continue its strong growth through 2007, and in 2003, the most — $5.29 billion — will be spent in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, according to global analysts Douglas-Westwood Ltd. Worldwide, development in the next five years likely will double, provided there are enough trained workers and enough profit for contractors.

Electronic commodity exchanges such as IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) and Dynegydirect have gained significant market share over the past few weeks as EnronOnline has fallen out of favor due to Enron’s financial turmoil, failed merger with Dynegy and subsequent bankruptcy filing. ICE reported that natural gas volumes on its system set a new daily record Tuesday with a total of 422 Bcf traded.

A day after warning that such action might be necessary, Florida Gas Transmission issued an Overage Alert Day notice Wednesday with 15% tolerance for negative daily imbalances.

Throwing its hat in the ring with a number of U.S. energy giants such as El Paso Corp. and Chevron, San Diego-based Sempra Energy is pursuing a proposal for an on- or offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal along the Pacific coast of northern Baja somewhere in a 70-mile strip south of the U.S. border. The proposed project would be financed by a consortium that would include Mexican interests, as well as Sempra. A formal announcement about the project is expected to come later in the month, according to Sempra officials.

Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) yesterday called on FERC to conduct astudy into why there is such a huge differential between prices fornatural gas in the supply basin and prices for the gas delivered tothe Southern California border.

El Paso Natural Gas “is willing to expand its system” to theCalifornia border if “sufficient support” for such a project can bedemonstrated through long-term capacity contracts, the pipelinetold FERC.

News Flash! Energy companies can be fun too. Such is the caseinvolving Williams employees, who according to the company, willattempt to complete the largest money raising bike ride fundraiserin the United States. Some 80 cyclists will embark on a relay-style2,000 mile journey departing from New York City on Sept. 25 andarriving at Williams Tower in Houston on Oct. 3. In the secondannual “Williams’ 2000 Riding The Line” fundraiser, each rider willcover approximately 60 to 70 miles a day, roughly tracing the pathof the company’s Transco natural gas pipeline andtelecommunications network. The fundraiser hopes to raise $5million for United Way, which if successful will be the singlelargest event in the charity’s 110-year history. The team raisedmore than $2 million dollars in the ride’s inaugural year.

The complaints filed against El Paso Natural Gas have reachedsuch a mammoth proportion that the staff for the Federal EnergyRegulatory Commission may be forced to set aside a shelf or twojust for these cases.

Citing such factors as customer cooperation and recent storageactivity in March, ANR said it was able to rescind a Februarynotice requiring that interruptible storage customers under the MBSand DDS rate schedules draw their accounts down to a zero balanceby today. However, the pipeline added, due to abnormally highinventory balances remaining and overall operational concerns, itmust continue to limit interruptible injections “for theforeseeable future.”