Times

Although stating several times the FERC-ordered changes to itsexisting capacity-allocation procedures weren’t “necessary orappropriate,” El Paso Natural Gas has proposed a new allocationscheme that would assign “pathed” and “non-pathed” rights for thedelivery of shippers’ gas to the California market.

Merger turmoil and tight margins are putting the screws to quitea few energy marketers, but Frost & Sullivan still sees plentyof room for the industry to grow. Several of the top-20 marketersof 1998 have exited the market, while other companies have beenspurred to acquire assets and start online trading, according to arecent study by the group.

Although there are still proposals crowding the queue for newnatural gas-fired merchant power plants in California, the statehas lost a lot of its luster because of time-consuming sitingapprovals, environmental set-asides and a flawed pricing systemthrough the state power exchange (PX), according to a panel ofregulators and power plant developers.

Although there are still proposals crowding the queue for newnatural gas-fired merchant power plants in California, the statehas lost a lot of its luster because of time-consuming sitingapprovals, environmental set-asides and a flawed pricing systemthrough the state power exchange (PX), according to a panel ofregulators and power plant developers.

Previously stalled by depressed commodity prices, MitchellEnergy & Development Corp. is flying right again with 12%return on equity in exploration and production, 15 to 20% ingathering and 55 to 60% in natural gas liquids (NGLs), according toone analyst. For Chairman, CEO and gas and oil industry veteranGeorge P. Mitchell, 80, now might be the time to bail out.

The lengthy and at times acrimonious fight between Oneok and theOklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) over upstream unbundlingappears to be over. On Thursday, the OCC voted 2 to 0, with onecommissioner absent, to unbundle the upstream gas gathering andstorage services of Oklahoma Natural Gas (ONG) and Kansas GasService, divisions of Oneok Inc.

Scorching temperatures in the Northeast and Midwest made forexciting times in the power market last week, which also saw therelease of three portions of a nationwide power study that predictsmore excitement ahead.

After tumbling 8.1 cents lower in Tuesday’s sell-off, the marketseemed to take a breather yesterday with neither bulls nor bearsable to influence price movemnet in their favor. The June contractwas limited to a tight 4-cent trading range, slipping just 0.8cents to finish at $2.254. Estimated volume was moderate, with67,082 contracts changing hands.

The shorter, and some believe unrealistic, response timesimposed by FERC in its final rule to expedite resolution ofindustry disputes will place an inordinate burden on interstatepipelines and other regulated companies that are likely to betargets of customer complaints, pipelines and power utilitiescontend. In fact, some believe the accelerated response deadlinesunfairly weight the process in favor of the complaining parties.Even natural gas producers – who helped spearhead the drive forthe faster complaint process – expressed some concerns, albeit morelimited, about the compressed deadlines.