Week

A top-ranking FERC official last week dismissed suggestions thatthe Commission was dragging its feet on key pipeline projects thatwould ship natural gas to the Northeast – namely the proposedMillennium, SupplyLink, MarketLink and Independence lines. “…[W]elove new pipelines,” said Richard O’Neill, director of the Officeof Economic Policy, “but we don’t want these new pipelines to turninto stranded costs.” Also, he cited environmental concerns.

Texas Land Commissioner David Dewhurst last week presented aplan to a special senate committee on electric utilityrestructuring that would allow the land commissioner to convert thestate’s oil and gas earned from public lands into electricity andsell it to Texas schools, state agencies, and local governments.

FERC last week gave Petal Gas Storage the go-ahead to double thecertificated capacity of its storage facilities in Mississippi to10.4 Bcf. Petal Gas would accomplish this by drilling, leaching anddeveloping a second underground salt dome storage cavern identicalto its existing cavern. The proposed storage cavern would have thesame certificated capacity as the existing cavern (5.2 Bcf), andboth would have a combined actual working gas capacity of 5.8 Bcf.

FERC last week upheld an administrative law judge’s partialinitial decision denying KN Interstate Gas’s (KNI) request to rollin the costs associated with the construction of its Pony ExpressLine and Kansas City Line.

Prices for the concluding weekend of February maintained thesoftening trend that had started earlier in the week, ranging fromflat to a little over a dime lower. And although swing gas tradedFriday for today’s flow only was flat at a few points, most sourcesagreed that the initial March aftermarket was trending downwardoverall from both bidweek indexes and weekend levels.

Reliant Energy improved its West Coast portfolio last week byannouncing a six-year agreement with the Springfield, IL municipalutility City Water, Light and Power (CWLP) to market its total 600MW generation. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA), which represents thenation’s major gas producers, last week placed its president,Nicholas J. Bush, on administrative leave without pay in the wakeof an investigation and a subsequent lawsuit. The suit accuses himof fraud and misappropriating more than $2.4 million from the groupsince the late 1980s. The D.C. Superior Court, where the suit wasfiled, has issued a temporary restraining order against Bush andhas continued the case until Feb. 26 [Docket No. 1028-99].

The Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA), which represents thenation’s major gas producers, earlier this week placed itspresident, Nicholas J. Bush, on administrative leave without pay inthe wake of an investigation and a subsequent civil lawsuitaccusing him of misappropriating more than $2 million from thegroup since the late 1980s. The D.C. Superior Court, where the suitwas filed, has issued a temporary restraining order against Bushand has continued the case until Feb. 26 [Docket No. 001028-99].

New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman signed an energyderegulation bill last week, clearing the way for statewideelectric unbundling to occur by Aug. 1 and statewide, residentialgas unbundling to be in place by Dec. 31. The bill was passed bythe state’s legislature late last month (See NGI, Feb. 1).