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Spirit Energy 76, the Lower 48 E&P unit of Unocal, plans toform the Venture 76 Alliance with five U.S. deep-water engineeringand service companies. Each alliance member will bring specificexpertise to the development of Unocal’s deep-water prospects inthe Gulf of Mexico. As opposed to strictly project-focused teams,the alliance will be directly involved in such pre-drillingactivities as field development scenario planning and screeningconcepts for handling deep-water production.

A new study finds all is not well with the relationship betweenenergy marketers and service companies and their commercialcustomers. Indeed, BENTEK Energy Research says “commercialcustomers feel marketers and ESCOs promise prices that are notrealized, under-perform on services, and they are not meetingcustomers’ needs in helping to reduce their energy consumption.”

United Cities Gas Co.’s two-inch diameter, 7.2 MMcf per hour gasline that connects with a town border station in Wytheville, VAexploded Sunday morning, destroying a house and business. No onewas killed in the accident, but 1,600 residents of Wytheville hadtheir heat cut off and some have not had it restored. The cause ofthe fire is still under investigation.

The cash market has plenty of fundamentals to deal with goinginto the Christmas weekend. But despite widespread freezing weatherand a profusion of actual and/or potential pipeline OFOs (question:does a Strained Operating Condition mean CIG has a hernia?), priceswere unusually bearish Wednesday in light of what many wouldconsider bullish conditions. Most declines were in the neighborhoodof a dime, although some Western points that had been flying highearlier in the week were measuring their losses in terms ofdollars.

Providence Gas Co. (ProvGas) was granted a rematch with state regulators and Aurora Natural Gas of Dallas last week but got only a token $5,000 knocked off of a $323,000 fine the state imposed in September for affiliate favoritism and tariff violations. Judge Stephen T. Scialabba also granted the company’s request for rehearing and reconsideration of $300,000 in refunds to marketers ordered in the Aurora Natural Gas LLC v. Providence Gas Co. case (Docket No. D-98-1).

With conflicting influences in several directions, much of thecash market decided to take a break Thursday and not wander veryfar from Wednesday’s levels. Small gains at most points outweigheda few scattered decreases. Modest strength in the Henry Hub gasfutures contract was countered by crude oil futures falling harderthan it had risen Wednesday, even as the U.S.-led air strikescontinued against Iraq Thursday. And forecasts for widespreadbelow-normal temperatures during Christmas week apparently meantless to gas traders than the current still-relatively-mildconditions.

Enron Corp. made an SC13D filing with the Securities andExchange Commission on Tuesday to inform the commission it hasreceived an unsolicited offer for its 53.5% share of Enron Oil andGas, one of the largest independent gas producers in the U.S.According to the solicitation, the unnamed third party wouldacquire Enron’s shares in EOG and make an offer for all theoutstanding shares. The third party also would require that Enrondispose of certain other assets.

PG&E Energy Trading Canada Corp. has made a deal with BC Gasfor capacity on the BC Gas Southern Crossing Pipeline project andfor provision of peaking services to BC Gas, pending regulatoryapprovals. BC Gas last week re-filed for construction of theSouthern Crossing Pipeline, a loop of existing pipeline linked tothe north-south Westcoast Energy pipeline connecting to BritishColumbia and the U.S. Pacific Northwest. The pipeline to linkAlberta gas to the Huntingdon, BC, market area is scheduled tobegin operation Nov. 1, 2000.

With demand rising in southern California and its pipes too fullto do anything about it, Transwestern Pipeline Co. is holding anopen season through Dec. 18 to solicit shipper interest in apossible mainline expansion. The pipeline is exploring theconstruction of a compressor station near Gallup, NM, that willincrease mainline capacity to the California border by 140,000Dth/d. The cost of the expansion is estimated at $15-$20 million.