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Chesapeake Energy of Oklahoma City has signed a unique agreementwith Gothic Energy Corp., Tulsa, which includes the right for fiveyears to develop 50% of Gothic’s current and subsequently acquiredundeveloped reserves. This includes 60 Bcfe of proved undevelopedreserves and a substantial amount of probable and possiblereserves.

Despite reaching another record of 2,899 Bcf, Canadian gasimports grew by only 0.5%, or 15.4 Bcf, last year, which was thelowest growth level in the past 11 years, according to a report bythe Department of Energy. DOE attributed the slow-down to tightimport pipeline capacity. It also mentioned prices at gas importpoints (under long-term and short-term contracts) in 1997 averaged$2.11, 10% higher than average prices in 1996. The average price ofCanadian gas at major import points rose 46% over the past twoyears, DOE said.

Energy Pacific launched a new energy service called Power ChoiceCalifornia, which will help companies make electricity buyingdecisions in a restructured marketplace. The company launched theservice through a pilot with Hewlett-Packard earlier this year andwill begin marketing the service in April. “We’re finding that manycustomers just don’t know where to begin when asking energyproviders for price quotes, or even what their energy options are,”said Eric Nelson, president of Energy Pacific, an unregulated jointventure of Pacific Enterprises and Enova Corp.

March prices, which had roared off to a strong start on Monday,filtered lower Tuesday leaving traders wondering if March wouldfollow the weather adage and trade out like a lamb. Cash priceswere slipping anywhere from a couple cents to nearly a dime Tuesdayin most markets. In doing so, many spot points achieved in Marchwhat they were unable to do the entire month of February: tradebelow index. Rockies gas, however, remained in high demand, immuneto the overall losses.

A FERC options paper outlining various gas issues, whichCommission staff has been compiling since last fall, is scheduledto go to the full Commission next week – an indication FERC willtake action very soon. Commissioners are at odds, however, overwhether the gas issues will be addressed on a comprehensive basisor individually.

Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s Express 500 Project, which offers firmtransportation through the bottlenecked Gulf of Mexico supply area,won more than 1 Bcf/d of capacity requests from customers duringthe project’s first open season. “We believe that this level ofparticipation demonstrates the need for incremental capacity fromthe Gulf Coast,” said Tennessee President John Somerhalder II.

Williams opened the doors to its new 300-position,21,000-square-foot energy trading floor, which it says featurestechnology, design and amenities surpassing those of most companiesin the nation. The trading floor is part of a new236,000-square-foot resource center adjacent to the 50-floorWilliams Tower in Tulsa, OK, where Williams has its corporateheadquarters. “As the second most profitable energy marketer in thenation, we remain committed to our customers by providing ourtraders with the absolute best tools available to compete andsucceed,” said Jerry Gollnick, senior vice president of energymarketing and trading for Williams.

The upstream Canadian portion of the Portland Natural GasTransmission Project – the PNGTS Extension, which will link theU.S. pipeline with TransCanada PipeLines via an extension of theTrans Qu‚bec & Maritimes — received a favorable environmentalreview from Canada’s National Energy Board. The NEB concluded the132-mile extension is “not likely to cause significant adverseenvironmental effects, provided that the mitigative measuresidentified during the public hearing are implemented and enforced.”The NEB submitted its Comprehensive Study Report on the project tothe federal Minister of Environment and to the CanadianEnvironmental Assessment Agency last week