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Once upon a time, some regions of the United States were havingproblems meeting peak seasonal demand for natural gas. Inadequatepipeline and storage capacity, combined with production exceedingnew natural gas discoveries, sent suppliers looking foralternatives. Imported liquefied natural gas became a hotcommodity. Now the story has been rewound and is playing all overagain — with bigger players and a wider stage.

Upon completion of its much awaited drilling operations at itsdeepwater exploration well on the Dana Point prospect in the Gulfof Mexico, Unocal Corp. announced that its $36 million investmentin the $51 million well drilling project produced nothing but a dryhole.

Seizing upon a deadline ultimatum recently issued by FERC for the proposed Independence Pipeline and associated SupplyLink expansion, State Rep. Frank LaGrotta of Pennsylvania has called on the Commission to revoke the certificate for the construction of the controversial, multi-state project.

Seizing upon a deadline ultimatum recently issued by FERC forthe proposed Independence Pipeline and associated SupplyLinkexpansion, Pennsylvania Rep. Frank LaGrotta has called on theCommission to revoke the certificate for the construction of thecontroversial, multi-state project.

Williams’ Northwest Pipeline has filed a FERC application thatwould allow the company to expand upon a system that is alreadyclassified as one of the nation’s largest natural gas transporters.The filing would allow Northwest to build and operate a newnine-mile, 20-inch diameter lateral pipeline in Snohomish County,WA.

Williams’ Northwest Pipeline has filed a FERC application thatwould allow the company to expand upon a system that is alreadyclassified as one of the nation’s largest natural gas transporters.The filing would allow Northwest to build and operate a newnine-mile, 20-inch lateral pipeline in Snohomish County, WA.

Williams said it expected its OFO (see Daily GPI, Dec. 12) to expire at the beginning oftoday’s gas day “based upon the latest weather forecast that we havereceived.” However, as of late Wednesday afternoon no cancellationnotice had been posted.

For nearly all points, the late-November swing price softeningthat had begun Monday upon emergence from the holiday weekendcontinued at a much accelerated pace Tuesday. The conspicuousexceptions? The same ones that have dazzled the rest of the marketsince Thanksgiving week began with numbers well over $10:California and the Pacific Northwest points where Canadian gas istraded (Sumas, Stanfield and Kingsgate).

The Federal Trade Commission finally smiled upon the merger ofBP Amoco and ARCO yesterday, accepting sweeping divestitures inAlaska as assurance the companies’ pairing will not beanti-competitive. The merger was first announced just over a yearago (see Daily GPI, April 5, 1999).