Through

Continuing to work through the monstrous merger completed amonth ago, BP Amoco centralized its power last week by choosing theWestlake complex in Houston as its exploration and productionheadquarters, then revealing a 1,400 person job cut at the complex.Company officials said the jobs were lost due to duplication andcommodity price reasons. Overall, BP Amoco plans to lay off 1,600workers in Texas by the end of the first quarter.

Spurred on by strong operations that fought through an arduousfourth quarter, Duke Energy posted a 36% increase in annualearnings to $3.41 per share in 1998 from $2.51 per share in 1997,the company announced Wednesday. Duke’s revenues increased to $17.6billion compared to $16.3 billion in 1997. Earnings before interestand taxes (EBIT) rose $540 million from the previous year, reaching$2.65 billion.

Samson Investment Co. of Tulsa, OK, completed its acquisitionfrom Nuevo Energy Co. of gas properties in East Texas. The totalpurchase price was $192 million. In addition to existingproduction, the properties contain more than 135 drillinglocations. The closing follows Samson Resources’ December closings,which included the acquisition of properties in six states fromDuer Wagner & Co. for $41 million and the acquisition ofcertain properties in the Homeglen-Rimbey and Westerose areas ofAlberta, Canada from Chevron Canada Resources for $9 million bySamson Canada Ltd.

Legislation with drop-dead dates for 100% gas and electricderegulation continued to march through the New Jersey GeneralAssembly Friday, as the state senate’s Economic Growth Committeeagreed to send a bill to both the senate and assembly floors for avote on Tuesday. If passed, the bill would force the state’s gasindustry to allow supply competition statewide starting Dec. 31 andstatewide electric generation competition starting Aug. 1. For itto become law, the bill needs to win a simple majority in bothhouses.

An Arctic cold front spreading through the nation’s midsectionwas enough to arrest a late December slide in cash prices Tuesday,at least in Eastern markets, which tended to be flat to slightlyhigher. But except for essential flatness at Waha and the PermianBasin, most of the West fell by about a dime or more, topped by adrop of almost 30 cents at Stanfield.

Alberta Energy Company (AEC) announced plans to expand thestorage capacity managed by its AECO-C storage hub in Alberta by 10Bcf through a conversion of a depleted field at Peace River Arch innorthwestern Alberta to a commercial storage facility. Thedevelopment will add 100 MMcf/d of injection and withdrawalcapability and has the potential for a further expansion, AEC said.

The bears were at it again at the New York Mercantile ExchangeWednesday when follow-through selling on the heels of Tuesday’sprecipitous price falloff took prices lower. The prompt Januarycontract gapped lower at the open and never looked back, posting a6.6-cent loss to $1.847 for the session.

While Oklahoma Natural Gas’ (ONG) appeal of the OklahomaCorporation Commission’s interim order unbundling its upstreamsystem winds its way through court, the OCC has turned to Arkla andthe unbundling of its downstream system. Arkla will have its fourthopen meeting with the commission and other interested parties Nov.17. OCC Commissioner Bob Anthony is enthusiastic about how thingshave gone so far. “They [Arkla] have not just claimedconfidentiality on everything. It’s been very open and detailed. Idon’t normally go around bragging about utilities. I’ve asked somestaff people if everything’s operating in good faith and they’vegiven me some encouragement.”

While Oklahoma Natural Gas’ (ONG) appeal of the OklahomaCorporation Commission’s interim order unbundling its upstreamsystem winds its way through court, the OCC has turned to Arkla andthe unbundling of its downstream system. Arkla will have its fourthopen meeting with the commission and other interested parties Nov.17. OCC Commissioner Bob Anthony is enthusiastic about how thingshave gone so far. “They [Arkla] have not just claimedconfidentiality on everything. It’s been very open and detailed. Idon’t normally go around bragging about utilities. I’ve asked somestaff people if everything’s operating in good faith and they’vegiven me some encouragement.”