Were

Calgary-based AEC Oil & Gas secured an anchor land positionin the gas exploration fairway of the Mackenzie Delta in theNorthwest Territories. The lands, which were acquired through aproperty swap with Husky Oil, give the partnership of AEC West Ltd.and Alberta Energy Company Ltd. rights to more than 400,000 netacres.

Reprising their triumphs of last fall, Dynegy Marketing andTrade and Duke Energy Trading and Marketing LLC were the winningbidders in the latest auction of Gulf Coast gas transportationservices in the Minerals Management Service’s (MMS) third royaltyin-kind pilot program.

Where is the love? Coastal’s ANR Pipeline and backers of theGuardian Pipeline, which challenges ANR’s Wisconsin, were at itagain last week, sniping at each other via press release.

Two asset management deals were announced last week, one with aCanadian producer group and another with a northeastern LDC.

Due to a construction crew inadvertently rupturing the ColumbiaGas line in Hunterdon County, NJ, about noon Tuesday, deliveries toAlgonquin were interrupted at Hanover. Algonquin prorated Hanoverreceipts for Tuesday’s gas day and said no additional nominationswill be scheduled there or at its Ramapo interconnect with Columbiauntil further notice. About 100 MMcf/d was flowing at Hanover,Columbia said; however, it expects little or no impact on today’sgas day, estimating that line repairs will be completed thismorning.

You shouldn’t unless you were one of the thousands of workerswho spent millions of person-hours over the last few years sweatingthe millennium bug out of your company’s systems. If that was you,congratulations; you’ve made this last new year slightly morememorable than Hands Across America Day. Now it’s time for anyfood-hoarding doomsayers to get busy: You’ve got a lot ofstockpiled chips and salsa to get rid of.

While producers and end users were marshalling their argumentsagainst plans by TransCanada Pipelines Ltd. for long-term ratedesign changes to adapt to the budding era of competition, thepipeline opened up a second front, calling for an 11% hike in itscurrent rates effective Jan. 1.

Modest gains were seen in the natural gas pit yesterday after alocal-led sell-off was stymied by scale-down trade buying. Asidefrom cash prices moving a couple pennies higher, the fundamentalpicture remained overwhelmingly bearish, prompting traders to blametechnical factors for Thursday’s strength. The February contracttraded up 2.8 cents to $2.196 and March bounced 3.6 cents to$2.237. Equally as impressive was the 12-month strip, which gained2.6 cents to $2.391

You shouldn’t unless you were one of the thousands of workerswho spent millions of person-hours over the last few years sweatingthe millennium bug out of your company’s systems. If that was you,congratulations; you’ve made this last new year slightly morememorable than Hands Across America Day. Now it’s time for anyfood-hoarding doomsayers to get busy: You’ve got a lot ofstockpiled chips and salsa to get rid of.