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A small group of producers and marketers yesterday said they”fully support[ed]” the complaint in which California regulatorsaccused El Paso Natural Gas and its marketing affiliate El PasoMerchant Energy Co. of anti-competitive practices and affiliateabuse in connection with the $38.5 million contract arrangementbetween the two.

Frustrated by its inability to attract investors because theyview it as a stodgy utility, Southern Company last week announced amakeover in the form of a spin-off and IPO to create a separatecompany for most of its non-utility businesses.

Westcoast Energy, Cascade Natural Gas Corp. and Puget SoundEnergy (PSE) announced last week that they have teamed together toexplore the feasibility of building a new pipeline to serveconsumers in northwestern Washington. Westcoast is leading theproject evaluation and development for the three companies andwould be the lead developer as the project moves forward.

The second time was a charm for bears at Nymex yesterday whenthey succeeded in taking natural gas below key support afterfailing to do so earlier in the session. Sources pointed totechnical selling that entered the fray when the May contract wasunable to climb back to Monday’s $2.945 high as a major contributorto yesterday’s losses. However, declines were not limited to theprompt month as moderate losses pervaded the entire 12-month strip.The May and June each finished down 6.7 cents at $2.822 and $2.844respectively.

In a move that brings together two of the industry’s 800-poundgorillas, Texaco and Enron North America announced yesterday theyare combining their Louisiana assets and marketing in a new jointventure called Bridgeline Holdings LP.

As part of repair operations on its 100 Line #1 leak (see DailyGPI, Feb. 3), Tennessee has isolated andremoved from service sections of Lines #1 and #2. They are expected toremain out of service until Tuesday. Lines #3 and #4 remain inservice. The work is causing Tennessee to restrict through SecondaryServices meters (including the Zone 0 pool meter) upstream of Station40 (Natchitoches, LA).

They might both be majors, but Chevron U.S.A. Production Co. andShell Exploration & Production Co. still think it’s wise to notgo it alone in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The companieshave agreed to share drilling rigs and jointly drill twoexploratory wells there this year.

Natural gas futures resumed trading Tuesday right where theyleft off last week as traders pressured the market higher in twodistinct buying surges. The first one came at 10:00 a.m. (EST),when February opened a penny above last Friday’s $2.35 high onreports of the coldest air of the season for the Northeast U.S. Thesecond wave of buying came near the close, in a local-led attemptto push the spot month above its 40-day moving average at $2.385.In the end that push was only half-successful; February was able topunch through its 40-day average, but was unable to settle aboveit. The contract closed up 6.1 cents at $2.383 amid light volume ofjust 43,581.

Traders sweating out the warm winter and wondering how they’regoing to get rid of surplus storage can take heart from a newanalysts report that sees 27,000 MW of natural gas-fired powergeneration capacity being added in the next 12 months.