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Koch Gateway Pipeline informed FERC this week that on Dec. 31 itwill change its name to “Gulf South” and convert from a corporationto a limited partnership under Section 266 of the Delawareconversion statute. Koch said the conversion would have no impacton ratepayers. “If, however, Gulf South admits individual partners,through either a private or pubic offering of limited partnershipinterests, it will make a limited Section 4 rate filing within 90days to address any rate impacts of that change,” Koch said in itsDec. 22 filing with the Commission.

Sonat said an OFO Type 3 will take effect Friday for thefollowing groups: Birmingham Group, South Main Zone 2, AtlantaGroup, South Main Zone 3 and East of Wrens. It also anticipatesallocations of interruptible capacity starting Friday for theChattanooga Group and North Alabama Group.

Much of the North American market seemed to be joining theCanadians in still being on holiday Tuesday. In very subduedactivity scattered points (mostly in the California/PacificNorthwest region) registered upticks, but most ranged from mildlysofter to down as much as about $3.50 at the Chicago citygate.

Despite flurries of trading activity near the open and thenagain near the close, natural gas futures trading was extremelyquiet yesterday as most traders elected to morph their three-dayweekend into a four-day holiday.

The California Independent System Operator (Cal-ISO) isviolating its tariff and discriminating against electric generatorswith in-state facilities by paying them far less for emergencypower than it does for similar purchases made from marketers andgenerators located outside of California, a major in-stategenerator contends.

The California Chamber of Commerce and the state’s BusinessRoundtable have urged the California Public Utilities Commission(CPUC) to “allow retail rates to at least moderately reflectwholesale rates,” in order to keep the state’s utilities inbusiness and assure “the lights will stay on.”

Responding to investor concerns related to California’s energycrisis, Tulsa-based Williams Cos. said Tuesday that its fourthquarter earnings will be well above expected earnings estimates.Shares of the company had dropped to a 52-week low last week afternews surfaced that California’s utilities — one of Williams’largest markets — might not be able to pay their power bills.

Regional Reliability Councils and their members are about 90%compliant, but work still needs to be done to bring standards upand encourage non-members to join, according to the latest reportfrom the North American Electricity Reliability Council. NERC haspublished its findings for the second of four phases of its Year2000 Compliance Program, created to ensure adherence to NERC andregional standards.

Citing forecasts of moderating Midcontinent temperatures,Williams said it will lift a systemwide OFO this morning. The OFOwas issued Dec. 16 (see Daily GPI, Dec. 19).