Western

Questar Corp.’s initial results from the 2001 drilling and completion operations on the Pinedale Anticline in western Wyoming are encouraging enough to warrant more drilling and additional gathering facilities, company officials said last week, projecting that based on the new results, oil and gas production at year-end 2001 could triple over year-earlier levels.

Questar Corp.’s initial results from the 2001 drilling and completion operations on the Pinedale Anticline in western Wyoming are encouraging enough to warrant more drilling and additional gathering facilities, company officials said Monday, projecting that based on the new results, oil and gas production at year-end 2001 could triple over year-earlier levels.

Backers of the Elk Hills Power Plant in the western edge of the San Joaquin Valley’s oil patch held groundbreaking ceremonies Monday –on a 570-MW gas-fired plant in the midst of plentiful local gas supplies. The plant’s sponsors are Occidental Petroleum (Oxy), which owns the nearby Elk Hills oil/gas production fields once a part of the U.S. Navy’s Strategic Reserves, and Sempra Energy. The new plant will get all of its fuel supplies — up to 94 MMcf/d — from nearby Elk Hills, delivered through an Oxy pipeline, eliminating the normal utility transportation charges.

Where’s that scorecard? It’s never around when you need it. By our count there are now three new proposals on the Canadian side to upgrade service through southern British Columbia and into the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Westcoast Energy entered the Northwest expansion lists last week with an announcement of an open season to run through the end of May for more capacity on its Southern Mainline and Westcoast Alberta line to accommodate additional volumes from supply areas in British Columbia, Alberta and the Northwest Territories.

Where’s that scorecard? It’s never around when you need it. By our count there are now three new proposals on the Canadian side to upgrade service through southern British Columbia and into the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Westcoast Energy entered the Northwest expansion lists last week with an announcement of an open season to run through the end of May for more capacity on its Southern Mainline and Westcoast Alberta line to accommodate additional volumes from supply areas in British Columbia, Alberta and the Northwest Territories.

FERC last week gave Texas Eastern Transmission Corp. the go-ahead to build a lateral in western Pennsylvania to provide direct natural gas service to a new generation plant that is under construction by Liberty Electric Power LLC, which is owned by Orion Power Holdings Inc. in Baltimore.

FERC yesterday gave Texas Eastern Transmission Corp. the go-ahead to build a lateral in western Pennsylvania to provide direct natural gas service to a new generation plant that is under construction by Liberty Electric Power LLC, which is owned by Orion Power Holdings Inc. in Baltimore.

While gas traders, especially those who deal with western points, pondered the ramifications of the PG&E bankruptcy filing (see related story), most of the cash market saw moderate firmness Friday. A large majority of the upticks were in the vicinity of a dime, although scattered points rose as much as about 15 cents and others were up only about a nickel. There were small declines in the Rockies and substantially larger ones in California.

Western legislators will be leading off one offensive of the newadministration’s energy strategy March 7, with a U.S. HouseResources Committee hearing on restrictions on exploration and gasdevelopment on public lands and the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS)and their impact on power markets.