Daily GPI

Although industry comments on Order 637 still were tricklinginto FERC late Friday, it was clear that gas producers, bothmajors and independents, and industrial customers had some of thebiggest problems with the final order by far, while the interstatepipelines and LDCs sought minor tweaking of a “discrete” set ofissues.

As it jiggers its exploration and production portfolio, Texaco,like its brethren among major producers, is turning away from theUnited States and focusing on the international arena. However, thedeep-water Gulf of Mexico still shines like a new diamond, and thecompany also has professed a desire to become more weighted tonatural gas.

Foothills Pipe Lines Ltd. has recruited an early ally for itseffort to revive the dormant Alaska Natural Gas TransportationSystem — the government of Canada’s Yukon Territory.

Equitable Resources combined its Gulf of Mexico exploration andproduction unit with Westport Oil and Gas Co., a privateDenver-based exploration company. Equitable will receive about $50million in cash and a large minority interest in Westport.Equitable also will name three representatives and nominate afourth to the Westport board, bringing Westport’s board membershipto nine.

Vermont Gov. Howard Dean this week voiced strong opposition to a$100 million gas pipeline project and two power plants proposed inhis state. The governor’s position, local opposition and financingtroubles for the power plants have left project planners EnergyEast, Iroquois Gas Pipeline and Vermont Energy Park Holdings withvery few options.

A team of El Paso Natural Gas executives took the opportunityyesterday to explain in detail to their transportation customersthe pipeline’s new capacity-allocation proposal, but many left theFERC technical conference more bewildered than when they arrived.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has asked El Paso Energy andthe Coastal Corp. to pony up with more information regarding theirproposed merger. The companies confirmed the request but wouldn’tsay what the FTC is seeking. The commission would not comment,saying the case is ongoing.

Expanding its fast-growing sphere of influence within theindustry, EnronOnline, the Internet-based wholesale energytransaction platform sponsored by Enron, announced that it willhold the country’s first online sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissionsallowance auction from March 13-16.

The New York State Reliability Council filed comments with FERCearlier this week saying that the proposed Millennium Pipeline’scurrent route poses severe problems to the state’s electrical grid.