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Y2K was not an issue yesterday for traders in the natural gaspit at the New York Mercantile Exchange as they seamlessly made theswitch from the December 1999 contract to the January 2000contract. They did, however, have some unfinished business to takecare of. After opening at $2.33, January rumbled 9 cents higher tofill in the chart gap created by December, between the Nov. 19 lowof $2.39 and the Nov. 22 high of $2.35. But before any talk of asustained rally could circulate-bears, armed with fresh forecastscalling for above-normal temperatures-were successful in all butcompletely erasing those early morning gains. At the closing bellthe January contract was up just 2.2 cents to finish at $2.352.

Although the merger of Exxon and Mobil has raised the eyebrowsof at least two states, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) isexpected to vote today to approve the $81 billion deal to createone of the world’s largest energy companies. The deal includes aproposal to sell about 2,400 gas stations nationwide, and at leastConnecticut and New Hampshire are concerned. Although ConnecticutAttorney General Richard Blumenthal opposes the deal, he told theAssociated Press it is unlikely a single state could block themerger and it also is unlikely a coalition of states will form tochallenge the deal.

In a bid to complete what others have failed to accomplish, BlueDolphin Gas Storage LLC announced its plans to purchase the AvocaGas Storage facility from Northeastern Gas Caverns LLC yesterday.With the purchase, Blue Dolphin will become the third owner of thefacility this year. No financial terms of the transaction weredisclosed.

Three West Coast states are coordinating their efforts with theFederal Trade Commission to resolve the antitrust problemsassociated with BP-Amoco’s acquisition of Atlantic Richfield. Inthe event the issues can’t be worked out, the states said they willbring a lawsuit to block the $26 billion marriage.

For the second time this fall, Canada’s National Energy Boardhas served notice it will not halt natural gas projects to awaitresolutions of age-old Indian grievances and issued a plea for bothsides to make peace for the good of all concerned. It still is notclear, however, if the new Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline –gassed and ready to go — will actually start operations Dec. 1.

Liquefied natural gas imports to the United States continued onthe upswing yesterday with Coral Energy’s announcement it is buyinga whopping 29 Bcf in 11 cargoes FOB from Oman LNG LLC for shipmentin 2000 and 2001. The LNG will be loaded at Oman LNG’s plant atQalhat, Sultanate of Oman, for delivery into CMS Energy Corp.’s CMSTrunkline LNG terminal in Lake Charles, LA. Coral chartered thevessel LNG Arzew from Shell Bermuda (Overseas) Ltd. to carry theLNG. Terms of the agreements were not released. A Coral spokesmansaid no other details were available about the transaction.

FERC last week upheld an order approving Tennessee GasPipeline’s new transportation service agreements with six shippers,casting aside producer arguments that the contracts includednegotiated terms and conditions and raised right-of-first-refusal(ROFR) issues.

New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman has asked PresidentClinton to intercede on the state’s behalf to persuade the FederalEnergy Regulatory Commission to postpone action on the hotlycontested MarketLink expansion project for at least 60 days.

Beta Oil & Gas Inc. of Tulsa, OK, plans to acquire privateoil and gas producer Red River Energy Inc., also of Tulsa, for$23.5 — assuming about $7.6 million of existing debt and issuing2.25 million shares of Beta common stock. The deal is subject toapproval by Beta shareholders.