Transmission

A U.S. subsidiary of British-Borneo Petroleum Syndicate agreedto acquire 16.67% interest in Discovery Producer Services and itssubsidiary Discovery Gas Transmission. In addition, British-Borneohas the right to increase its ownership to 33.3% over the nextthree years. The transaction is valued at about $83.3 million.

Algonquin Gas Transmission plans a 70-mile HubLine extension toconnect to several new and exisiting power generation loads in theNortheast, particularly around Boston, and with new suppliesthrough the proposed Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline system.

Great Lakes Gas Transmission filed a large but downsized versionof its original 1999-2000 expansion project with FERC last Fridayon behalf of a single shipper, TransCanada PipeLines. The projectis expected to cost $620 million and begin operating in November2000. The Great Lakes 300 Expansion will involve the addition of260 miles of 36-inch diameter pipeline loops, including a newunderwater crossing of the Straits of Mackinac, and seven newcompressors adding 180,000 hp of compression. Great Lakes’ systemcurrently transports about 2 Bcf/d of Canadian gas from Emerson,MB, through Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.

Portland Natural Gas Transmission System (PNGTS) told the FERCCentral Maine Power Co. (CMP) is off base in its argument againstsiting of construction activity for PNGTS’ Rumford-Jay lateral pipealong a CMP power line corridor. CMP is seeking a stay order fromthe Commission.

To hasten FERC approval of its Canada-to-Illinois project,Viking Voyageur Gas Transmission said it would be willing to beplaced at-risk for any capacity that is unsubscribed during thefirst 10 years of the pipeline’s operation.

FERC has scheduled a public conference for April 15-16 toexamine the future of ISOs in administering the electrictransmission grid on a regional basis. The Commission isconsidering whether policy changes are necessary “in order topromote competition and reliability in bulk power markets.”

FERC dealt KN Interstate Gas Transmission a serious blow lastweek in ordering the pipeline to explain a 41% overrun in the costof its Pony Express Pipeline Project and prove the project stillmeets the Commission’s test for rolled-in rate treatment.

KN’s Bushton Plant will have a Lean Side Outage through March 5.Only the Lean Side Processing capabilities will be affected.

Florida Gas Transmission said Thursday it was experiencing”extremely high” linepack and that Operational Flow Orders would beissued to customers taking less than scheduled volumes. Otheroperational tools such as an Alert Day notice were also beingconsidered, the pipeline said.