Takes

The new policy statement on pipeline certification, which callsfor incremental pricing of projects filed past a certain deadline,came under fire at FERC last week from a cross-section of interestsin the natural gas industry.

In a move that has similarities to the El Paso NaturalGas-Dynegy contract, KN Energy has overcome a seriousdecontracting/underutilization problem on Natural Gas PipelineCompany of America by awarding a two-year contract for 500,000MMBtu/d of firm transportation capacity to Chicago to AquilaEnergy.

Following Thursday’s remarkable 27-cent spike, natural gasprices eased Friday at the New York Mercantile Exchange as tradersrolled out of near-month October contracts in favor of wintermonths. While the October contract finished down 6.7 cents, theloss was much less severe for November, which closed down 1.5cents. December and January 2000 contracts resisted the downturnaltogether, notching gains of 4 cents and 2.2 cents respectively.

The 1 Bcf/d Vector Pipeline project continued moving ahead asthe most likely new Midwest pipeline project to break ground andbegin construction. Westcoast Energy decided to grab a 30% equitystake and committed to take 240 MMcf/d of firm capacity in the $500million project. The transaction gives Westcoast a major stake ineach of three new gas pipeline projects that will form a newdelivery corridor to the Midwest, Northeast and eastern Canada fromthe Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.

Petrominerals Corp. of Foothills Ranch, CA, completed theacquisition of a 25% interest in a gas field in southwest Wyoming.Current production from the field is 700 Mcf/d (155 Mcf/d net) fromtwo active wells. The company has committed to participate in thedrilling of two additional wells by year-end and has identified twoshut-in wells it plans to return to production later in the year.

Siemens Westinghouse Power Corp. said last week it has receivedmore than $2.2 billion in orders for power generation equipment andservices in the U.S. during the first three quarters of its fiscalyear, which began on Oct. 1, 1998. Orders have been received fromboth merchant plants and rate-based power producers from nearlyevery geographic region in the country and the orders have beenrelatively evenly dispersed throughout the country, a spokesmansaid.

Siemens Westinghouse Power Corp. said yesterday it has receivedmore than $2.2 billion in orders for power generation equipment andservices in the U.S. during the first three quarters of its fiscalyear, which began on Oct. 1, 1998. Orders have been received fromboth merchant plants and rate-based power producers from nearlyevery geographic region in the country and the orders have beenrelatively evenly dispersed throughout the country, a spokesmansaid.

How quickly the market can change! Just two days after finishinga bidweek that saw indexes climb 30 cents or more, traders tookcash prices down Thursday to levels looking much more like Augustindexes than those of September. It was a rare point that managedto avoid a double-digit decline, and some registered drops of 20cents or more.

In response to a recent court ruling, the Michigan PublicService Commission (PSC) issued a decision this week affirming itsauthority to carry out its 1998 electricity restructuring orders ona voluntary basis with participating utilities.