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CMS Corp.’s marketing division, CMS Marketing, Services and Trading (MST), completed an agreement Tuesday to purchase a total of 9.3 Bcf of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the North West Shelf LNG project in Australia for delivery to the CMS Trunkline LNG facility in Lake Charles, LA. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The announcement marks the second major deal CMS has struck to take advantage of its purchase of Eastern Panhandle Pipeline and Trunkline Gas Co. from Duke Energy last year.

The Texas Railroad Commission (TRC) issued 611 original drillingpermits last month, down sharply from 979 issued in March of 1998.The total number of drilling permits issued for the year to date isalso down sharply. The TRC has issued 1,728 permits so far thisyear, down more than 1,200 from the 2,946 permits issued over thesame period of 1998.

None of Williams’ three main subsidiaries matched 1997 earningslevels, the company said Thursday, as it announced a total 1998 netincome of $140.7 million, or $0.31 per diluted share, down from$368.3 million, or $0.85 per diluted share in 1997. For the fourthquarter, Williams posted a net loss of $20.2 million or $0.05 perdiluted share versus a net income of $57.5 million or $0.13 perdiluted share in 1997. Company officials blamed poor marketconditions, large accrual and impairment amounts, and disappointingresults in the communications business as reasons for the poorperformance.

Los Angeles-based ARCO said after-tax special charges in thefourth quarter are expected to total $890 million. Net chargeincludes asset write-downs, restructuring costs, and a tax refund.Asset write-downs are a result of investment impairments totaling$790 million after tax and mainly related to expectations of lowercrude prices. Properties involved include some assets acquired aspart of the Union Texas Petroleum (UTP) purchase and other assetsin the UK North Sea, Middle East and North Africa. Essentially allof the oil and gas properties impacted are overseas.

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.

Equitable Resources Inc. is recording a total of $120 million inrestructuring-related charges, the company said Tuesday, in acontinuing effort started by company CEO Murry Gerber to focus oncore capabilities. Half of the charges will be accumulated becauseof severance, staff reductions and extinguishment of debt.Equitable expects a 20% employee reduction compared to mid-1998staff levels. The other half of the charge is a result of thedevaluation and consequent write-down of selected Gulf region gasand oil properties due to low commodity prices. Overall, Equitableexpects the measures to reduce annual expenses by $20 million in1999.

Unocal Corp. said last week it expects 1999 capital spending tototal between $1 billion and $1.1 billion, down from the estimated$1.7 billion in capital expenditures this year. The lower spendingreflects Unocal’s narrowed focus on core oil and gas explorationand production in response to lower commodity prices.

Unocal Corp. said Monday it expects 1999 capital spending tototal between $1 billion and $1.1 billion, down from the estimated$1.7 billion in capital expenditures this year. The lower spendingreflects Unocal’s narrowed focus on core oil and gas explorationand production in response to lower commodity prices.

Nova Scotia Power Inc. completed the purchase of a 12.5%interest in the Maritimes &amp Northeast Pipeline (M&ampNP)project. This purchase represents a total investment of about $200million.