Tuesday

National Fuel Gas used a hearing in the Pennsylvania senateTuesday to voice its opposition to the state’s gas deregulationbill. It is the only LDC to oppose the bill so far.

Attempting to gain access to a potentially plentiful Gulf ofMexico gas supply, KeySpan Exploration &amp Production announcedTuesday it agreed with Houston Exploration Co.to jointly drilland develop 55 leases in the Gulf’s outer continental shelf. The$300 million agreement has an effective date of Jan. 1, 1999.

After halting a three-day, 25-cent price slide Tuesday, naturalgas futures slowly began to build yesterday what bulls would liketo think is a base on which further gains will be added. Andalthough it is far from universal, that sentiment was echoed byothers who think that the confluence of relatively strong cashprices and rallying crude oil prices are supportive factors fornatural gas. The April contract finished 3.1 cents higher at $1.748in light trading.

Attempting to gain access to a potentially plentiful Gulf ofMexico gas supply, KeySpan Exploration & Production announcedTuesday it agreed with Houston Exploration Co. to jointly drill anddevelop 55 leases in the Gulf’s outer continental shelf. The $300million agreement has an effective date of Jan. 1, 1999.

The cash market continued to eke out small gains Tuesday inquiet activity that was starting to remind some of last month’sgeneral lack of volatility. New averages ranged from flat to abouta nickel higher, with the varying increases scattered throughoutthe producing and market areas.

ScottishPower and PacifiCorp jointly announced that their Dec.7, 1998 merger plan gained a large boost Tuesday when the FederalTrade Commission (FTC) waived the 30-day waiting period under theHart-Scott-Rodino antitrust law.

Governor Christine Todd Whitman signed an energy deregulationbill Tuesday, clearing the way for statewide electric unbundling tooccur by Aug. 1, 1999 and statewide, residential gas unbundling byDec. 31. The bill was passed by the state’s legislature late lastmonth. The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) is now incharge of formulating and implementing the deregulation program.

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Minerals ManagementService (MMS) served official notice Tuesday of its intentions tohold lease sale 181 for 5.949 million acres in the eastern Gulf ofMexico. The MMS issued a Call for Interest and Information and aNotice of Intent (NOI), which gives interested parties 60 days tocomment on the proposed sale. The MMS tentatively scheduled thesale for December 2001. An MMS spokesperson said no minimum bid hasbeen set.

Atlanta Gas Light Co. (AGL) responded harshly yesterday to a report filed Tuesday by members of the Georgia Public Service Commission (GPSC) adversary staff, heating up an already steamy debate over AGL’s rates.