Volumes

California electricity costs and volumes in the spot market dropped dramatically in June and the first two weeks of this month, according to state officials releasing figures during a conference call last week initiated by the governor’s press secretary. The percentage of daily and hourly spot market purchases by the state has dropped to less than 10%, compared to 45% in May.

California electricity costs and volumes in the spot market dropped dramatically in June and the first two weeks of this month, according to state officials releasing figures Sunday during a conference call initiated by the governor’s press secretary. The percentage of daily and hourly spot market purchases by the state has dropped to less than 10%, compared to 45% in May.

As exploration and production companies scurry to extract higher volumes of natural gas from the ground to meet the nation’s voracious demand, coalbed methane production in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and southern Montana continues to increase as conservative estimates of the basin’s reserves from the late 1980s through the mid-1990s continue to fall by the wayside, according to Energy and Environmental Analysis (EEA).

As exploration and production companies scurry to extract higher volumes of natural gas from the ground to meet the nation’s voracious demand, coalbed methane production in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and southern Montana continues to increase as conservative estimates of the basin’s reserves from the late 1980s through the mid-1990s continue to fall by the wayside, according to Energy and Environmental Analysis (EEA).

Volumes on IntercontinentalExchange, an online marketplace forover-the-counter energy and metals, reported late last week that ithas notched another single day record on its power exchange,trading 4 mmMWh on March 22 on its power. The company said thetrading volume on that day was centered on the popular Cinergy Hub.The new record dethrones the one previously set on Feb. 27, whenthe exchange saw 3 mmMWh in trading.

El Paso declared an Unauthorized Overpull Penalty situationTuesday and said it will limit scheduled volumes at underperforminginterconnects to preserve system integrity. The pipeline alsopostponed pigging of Line 3201 in San Juan Basin (see Daily GPI,Dec. 19) by one more day to Dec. 28.

Northwest noted that despite putting its system into entitlementand issuing a realignment OFO, primary scheduled volumes throughKemmerer (WY) Station remain greater than physical capacity.Therefore, starting today the pipeline is invoking a “must-flowOFO” provision of its tariff. Until further notice, shippers withprimary corridor rights southbound through Kemmerer are required toflow up to 10% of their contract demand from receipt points northof Kemmerer to delivery points south of Kemmerer or take some othermutually agreeable action to alleviate the Kemmerer capacityproblem. See the Northwest bulletin board for details.

Coastal’s earnings for the third quarter were up 40% over thesame period in 1999, boosted by higher gas production volumes andhigher commodity prices in its oil refining and marketingbusinesses. Earnings for the quarter were $144.8 million, or 65cents per share, compared with $102.1 million, or 47 cents a sharea year ago. Excluding merger related items, earnings for theHouston-based company were $146.9 million, or 66 cents per share.First Call/Thomson Financial had predicted 60 cents/share.

Houston-based Amerex Natural Gas Inc. and sister company AmerexPower Inc. together bought the gas and electricity brokeragebusinesses of Houston-based BTU Brokers Ltd. for an undisclosedprice. As a result, Amerex’s daily average of physical and papergas deals grew 12.4% to $287 million, and physical and paper powerdeals increased 5% to $175 million for a combined annual value of$121 billion in gas and power deals.