Winning

On the heels of winning an epic two-year battle for Canadian environmental approval this summer, the international Georgia Strait Crossing (GSX) sea-floor pipeline project offshore Washington State and British Columbia appears to have foundered on the rocks of higher natural gas prices.

On the heels of winning an epic two-year battle for Canadian environmental approval this summer, the international Georgia Strait Crossing (GSX) sea-floor pipeline project offshore of Washington State and British Columbia appears to have foundered on the rocks of higher natural gas prices.

National Energy & Gas Transmission Inc. (NEGT) reported late Thursday that it has accepted TransCanada PipeLines’ $1.7 billion bid to acquire Gas Transmission Northwest Corp., which owns an 1,350-mile pipeline in the Pacific Northwest and the 80-mile North Baja system in the Southwest. An NEGT spokeswoman said TransCanada’s bid was the only one submitted.

Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) has awarded a Shell affiliate a contract to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in Altamira in the Gulf Coast state of Tamaulipas. The contract calls for Shell’s Gas del Litoral to supply 500 MMcf/d of gas from the terminal to the CFE.

Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) has awarded a Shell affiliate a contract to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in Altamira in the Gulf Coast state of Tamaulipas. The contract calls for Shell’s Gas del Litoral to supply 500 MMcf/d of gas from the terminal to the CFE.

Taking advantage of significant storage and transportation capacity and natural gas price volatility, Oneok’s marketing and trading unit more than doubled operating income in 2002 over 2001, contributing to the company’s 2002 earnings of $166.6 million, or $1.39 per diluted share of common stock compared with $101.6 million, or 85 cents per diluted share for the previous year.

The end is in sight for the long winning streak chalked up by Canadian natural-gas exporters, as deliveries remain consistently off their formerly torrid pace in setting 14 consecutive annual sales records in the United States. Canadian gas deliveries to the U.S. fell by 5.3% to 2.745 Tcf in the first three-quarters of the current gas contract year that ends Oct. 31 from 2.9 Tcf in the same period of 2000-01, the National Energy Board reports.

The end is in sight for the long winning streak chalked up by Canadian natural-gas exporters, as deliveries remain consistently off their formerly torrid pace in setting 14 consecutive annual sales records in the United States. Canadian gas deliveries to the U.S. fell by 5.3% to 2.745 Tcf in the first three-quarters of the current gas contract year that ends Oct. 31 from 2.9 Tcf in the same period of 2000-01, the National Energy Board reports.

Is that an “I told you so” coming from the Barrett Resources board room? Yesterday, Royal Dutch/Shell raised its bid $5 a share for the Denver-based independent, and is now valuing the gas-rich company at $2.01 billion. Shell launched a hostile takeover bid in March for $55 a share, but Barrett had said the offer was too small (see Daily GPI, March 12).