Daily GPI

A coalition of pipeline customers has accused interstate gaspipelines of attempting to bypass FERC Order 637’s limits on theuse of penalties by offering their customers new services thatinclude penalties masked in “sheep’s clothing.”

The Transco pipeline system’s capacity has increased by 204,099Dth/d with the start-up of the SouthCoast Expansion project. The$108 million expansion provides additional firm transportationcapacity to gas markets in Alabama and Georgia

Wholesale gas and power sales still appear to be climbingsharply for most major marketers as Enron and Duke Energy bothposted significant increases in both commodities in third quarter.Southern Energy reported that while its third quarter NorthAmerican electricity sales declined from last year’s third quarterlevel, its gas sales enjoyed a sizable increase.

The Independent Petroleum Association of America won an”impressive” victory when Congress amended the Energy Policy andConservation Act, a victory that may change where exploration andproduction development takes place in the future. The changes, saidIPAA at its recent annual meeting in San Antonio, require theDepartment of Interior to begin a comprehensive inventory ofgovernment-controlled lands on which oil and gas are found.

Despite FERC findings to the contrary, California Gov. GrayDavis and top officials at the state’s investor-owned utilities(IOUs) are far from convinced that out-of-state electricitysuppliers didn’t act illegally this summer, causing the huge run-upin power prices in the wholesale market.

With the Senate in semi-recess, a recess appointment by theWhite House to extend Chairman James J. Hoecker’s tour-of-duty atFERC by another year has been put on hold until after nextTuesday’s presidential and congressional elections.

Avista Advantage, a subsidiary of Avista Corp., has completed aninvestment agreement for an undisclosed amount with Wayne, PA-basedEnerTech Capital Partners to help refine, expand and market theSpokane, WA-based company’s suite of facility cost managementservice offerings. The agreement completes Avista Advantage’s firstround of private equity financing. Gary G. Ely, Avista Corp.’sacting CEO, said the agreement “will focus new attention on thisimportant market segment, and create new value growth opportunitiesfor both companies.” EnerTech, one of the Safeguard Scientificsfunds, is based in Wayne, PA. It specializes in companies poisedfor growth through deregulation, targeting the convergence of theenergy, utility and telecommunications industries.

El Paso declared an Unauthorized Overpull Penalty situationThursday that will remain in effect until further notice. Thepipeline said it will limit scheduled volumes at underperforminginterconnects to insure system integrity.

It’s been a long wait, but traders are finally seeing what theysaid was needed to spark a turnaround in a sagging gas market:genuinely substantial cold weather approaching a major market area.That and continued, albeit moderate, support from the Decemberfutures contract generated cash price increases Thursday rangingfrom a nickel or less in the Rockies and California to between anickel and about 15 cents in the Southwest, Gulf Coast,Midcontinent, Midwest and Appalachia.