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Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles’ State of the State address last week centered on what could become the legacy of his administration: an 1,800-mile natural gas pipeline to transport the state’s 36 Tcf to the marketplace. With energy prices and energy consumption bursting at the seams, Knowles is dedicating the remainder of his term, which expires in 2003, to the gas project.

What has been bizarre behavior for more than a month turned intooutright insanity Thursday as California’s electricity gridoperator declared a Stage Three power alert and narrowly avertedrolling blackouts for firm customers. State officials had expectedto have to curtail up to 2,000 MW between 5-8 p.m., centered mostlyin northern California. An unprecedented one-third (15,000 MW) ofthe capacity usually available was out of service.

Just what can the energy industry expect to encounter underincoming President-elect George W. Bush’s administration? It’s asafe bet the former Midland, TX, oilman, paired with formerHalliburton CEO Dick Cheney, will be more open to expanding oil& gas exploration and production. Beyond that, anyone with aninterest in making friends and influencing people in the new Bushadministration, might make use of the following list of Dubya’sEnergy Transition Advisory Team:

Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles’ State of the State address this weekcentered on what could become the legacy of his administration: an1,800-mile natural gas pipeline to transport the state’s 36 Tcf tothe marketplace. With energy prices and energy consumption burstingat the seams, Knowles is dedicating the remainder of his term,which expires in 2003, to the gas project.

It appears the Guardian Pipeline project received what it wantedfor the holidays afterall, even though it came a week or two late.The pipeline announced yesterday that it has cleared one of thelarger regulatory hurdles, as the Federal Energy RegulatoryCommission (FERC) Staff issued a Final Environmental ImpactStatement (EIS) on the project, deeming the construction andoperation of the 149-mile natural gas pipeline from Joliet, IL, toIxonia, WI, as an acceptable environmental action.

In what could be called a dark horse choice following weeks ofspeculation that one of several energy heavyweights would be tappedto fill the Energy Department Cabinet seat for President-electGeorge W. Bush, former Michigan Sen. Spencer Abraham (R) wasnominated to serve as energy secretary yesterday. Abraham wasdefeated last November in his first re-election bid.

Boosted by what may be the most bullish weather forecast to hitthe industry in years, natural gas futures spiked dramatically inmultiple buying surges last week as traders pressed the envelope oftheir long exposures.

El Paso Natural Gas has decided to postpone what it called”routine” maintenance projects on its system in order to maintainthe flow of natural gas into the California market to meet thesurge in demand there. The higher demand has been created by ashortfall in energy imports from the Northwest region, which hasbeen gripped by cold weather.

El Paso Energy Corp. clarified Wednesday that what used to be knownas Channel Industries Gas, which exploded Monday evening (see DailyGPI, Dec. 6), is now managed by a unitcalled El Paso Energy Intrastate Co. and has not actually changed tothat name. The instrastate unit refers to it as the A-S Line becauseit runs from Agua Dulce to the Sabine River at the Texas-Louisianaborder. The rupture occurred downstream of the Houston Ship Channelwhere most its major customers are located, a spokeswomansaid. Because of supply re-routing or fuel switching, there are stillno service interruptions occurring or expected, she added. Averagerecent throughput was 400 MMcf/d, the spokeswoman said, but the volumeof gas lost to the atmosphere was unavailable.