Daily GPI

Northeast citygates continued to scale new price heightsWednesday as the region braced for another onslaught of what isturning out to be the most severe winter storm of the currentseason by far. Transportation-constrained Transco Zone 6-NYC againtopped the price list with quotes that ran as high as $11, and acouple of sources confirmed that the point had already traded forFriday flow at $13.50. Other citygates in the region were allaveraging more than $5 Wednesday.

In what may have been a Pyrrhic victory for bulls, natural gasprices cruised to its seventh straight advance yesterday as tradeand local buyers took the February contract to its highest level inalmost a month.

Planning to concentrate on power transmission and distribution,New England Electric System (NEES) said yesterday the time is ripeto test the market for AllEnergy Marketing. The company will lookat all strategic options, including a possible sale. AllEnergy isone of the largest retail energy marketing firms in the Northeast,currently selling gas, fuel oil, propane, and electricity to about125,000 customers.

CMS Energy is handing over its title of largest independent oiland gas producer in Michigan to Quicksilver Resources, the companysaid yesterday. The sale includes all of CMS Energy’s gas and crudeoil exploration and production properties in Michigan, includingthe stock of Terra Energy Ltd., as well as other smaller interestsin Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. It covers more than 180,000 netleasehold acres producing 54 MMcfe/d from the Antrim Shale, as wellas from the Niagaran and Prairie du Chien formations. Estimatedreserves and the purchase price were not disclosed. The transactionis expected to close by the end of the first quarter.

The first major construction activity kicked off this week forVector Pipeline, the project partners announced yesterday. Theproject, which would make 1 Bcf/d of transport available fromwestern Canada to Chicago, is on time to start service in October.

The Department of the Interior’s Mineral Management Service(MMS) announced a continuation of the Outer Continental Shelfportion of its royalty-in-kind (RIK) pilot program Tuesday and hasdoubled the amount of gas previously offered. The nearly 500 MMcf/dof production will go on sale this spring, the MMS said. Detailsfor the sale are still being finalized.

U.S. and Canadian shippers on Northern Border Pipeline havelobbed a barrage of protests at the pipeline’s latest request toroll-in the costs of its Project 2000 extension, with some going asfar as to question the need for the Illinois-to-Indiana extension.

Midcoast Interstate Transmission and two groups oflandowners/environmentalists have lost their year-long battle incourt to overturn FERC orders awarding a certificate to SouthernNatural Gas to build and operate an extension into northernAlabama.

Conectiv is selling 1,875 MW of fossil-fired generation andrelated assets that are owned by its subsidiaries, Atlantic CityElectric Co. and Delmarva Power & Light, to NRG Energy ofMinneapolis, a subsidiary of Northern States Power, for $800million. The deal includes a power sales contract at closing, inwhich Delmarva will buy 500 MW from NRG.