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Chairman James Hoecker announced yesterday that a FERC staffteam has been formed to closely monitor developments in theelectric market in an attempt to identify and prevent priceaberrations similar to those which occurred in the Midwest lastsummer.

FERC has unveiled its long-awaited final rule on expeditedcomplaint procedures, the focus of which is its fast-track processfor resolving industry disputes within 20 to 60 days after aninitial complaint is filed. The Commission voted out the ordernotationally late Wednesday.

FERC yesterday set the merger between Western Resources Inc. andKansas City Power & Light (KCP&L) for evidentiary hearingon issues involving market power and customer protection.

Duke Energy Field Services becomes the top NGL producer in thecountry and the second largest gas marketer with completion of itspurchase of UPFuels, and Union Pacific Resources’ marketingoperations for $1.35 billion.

Unocal Corp.’s Spirit Energy 76 agreed to sell substantially allof its oil and gas assets in Michigan to Quicksilver Resources Inc.for $27 million cash and about $3 million in unregistered commonstock of Quicksilver.

Located less than five miles from downtown Los Angeles, theindustrial city of Vernon sits as an attractive trophy for one ofthe two proposed natural gas interstate pipelines. Thebusiness-focused local government is finishing construction of anew municipal gas distribution system that will compete withSouthern California Gas’ existing network. By next year, there willbe duplicative gas distribution systems operating.

Citing such factors as customer cooperation and recent storageactivity in March, ANR said it was able to rescind a Februarynotice requiring that interruptible storage customers under the MBSand DDS rate schedules draw their accounts down to a zero balanceby today. However, the pipeline added, due to abnormally highinventory balances remaining and overall operational concerns, itmust continue to limit interruptible injections “for theforeseeable future.”

The April aftermarket was off to a very strong beginning inswing deals done Wednesday. Virtually every point was trading abovebidweek levels and in some cases much higher. For example, a buyerwho paid in the mid $1.70s for April baseload at the SouthernCalifornia border reported a $1.90-95 swing range. Most sourcesagreed that the incremental price strength derived almost entirelyfrom “following the screen” upward.

“Where has all the gas gone now?” asked a Houston-based marketerTuesday as April numbers turned upward going into the home stretch ofbidweek. He was starting to encounter some tightness of supplies inthe Gulf Coast and Appalachian production areas that caused prices tobe bid higher. Echoing a producer’s Friday observation (see Daily GPI, March 29), the market suspectedthat reduced drilling budgets last year may be reflected now in afirmer gas market.