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CNG Energy Services of Pittsburgh signed a three-year contractwith Ormet Corp., one the nation’s largest aluminum producers andsuppliers of aluminum products, to provide gas management servicefor eight Ormet facilities in the United States. The facilitiesconsume about 12 Bcf/year.

Electricity buyers with multiple facilities are eager toconsolidate power buying activities from myriad suppliers to just ahandful when competition comes, according to a recent survey.

Although the buzz on Capitol Hill is Senate debate over thePublic Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA) is imminent, gasindustry observers question whether Congress can pass legislationthis year reforming the New Deal law.

The American Gas Association’s “shrewd” new President and CEODavid N. Parker has discovered a period of calm, but continuedstreamlining is the best thing right now to keep AGA in goodstanding with its members. In an interview with NGI last week,Parker said he has made a commitment to the AGA board to furtherreduce expenses and hold down membership dues.

Cross Timbers Oil of Fort Worth, TX has agreed to acquire 270Bcf of gas equivalent reserves and undeveloped acreage in the EastTexas Basin for $265 million from Houston-based EEX Corp. Thecompany estimates the reserves are composed of 260 Bcf of gas and1.6 million barrels of oil concentrated in about 88,000 gross(59,000 net) acres. Current daily production is about 80 MMcfe fromabout 900 (664 net) wells with a reserve-to-production index ofalmost nine years. Proved developed reserves represent 82% of thevalue of the properties. Direct production costs, excludingproduction and severance taxes, average 25 cents/Mcf.

The unfolding controversy over the contracts giving Natural GasClearinghouse (NGC) a large bite of the westbound transportationcapacity on El Paso Natural Gas – capacity that was destined to beturned back to the pipeline at the end of last year – is expectedto take center stage at FERC this week. Marketers and producers saythey plan to make a case that the contracts are anticompetitive andcontain illegal negotiated terms and conditions, and are at faultfor the run-up in transportation rates on El Paso’s system to theCalifornia border.

The National Energy Board has started preparing a report titledCanadian Energy Supply and Demand 1998-2025, which is scheduled tobe published in 1999. It will provide an analysis of energy trends,issues and developments impacting Canada over the next quartercentury. Written comments or papers must be received no later thanMay 12. The first round of public consultations will take place inApril in various Canadian cities. For details see NEB’s website atwww.neb.gc.ca/home.htm, or contact Lorna Patterson at (403)299-3987.

California State University (CSU) and the University ofCalifornia (UC) signed up with Enron Energy Services (EES) forpower to serve all 22 CSI campuses and all nine UC campuses andother facilities. The deal is the largest direct-access electricenergy contract in the country, Enron said. The two institutionsare projected to save more than $15 million over the next fouryears. “It will be hard to top this,” an Enron spokesman said ofthe deal. “They are the largest public institutions even in thestate of California.” Before this deal, Enron’s largest Californiapower deal was the recently announced pact with Pacific Telesis,worth $280 million over four years to service 8,000 Californiafacilities.

Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s Express 500 Project, which offers firmtransportation through the bottlenecked Gulf of Mexico supply area,won more than 1 Bcf/d of capacity requests from customers duringthe project’s first open season. “We believe that this level ofparticipation demonstrates the need for incremental capacity fromthe Gulf Coast,” said Tennessee President John Somerhalder II.Tennessee has targeted Mar. 31 as the deadline for signedagreements, with plans to file a 7(c ) certificate next November.To accommodate the firm load, Tennessee will expand capacity at keyreceipt points on the Tennessee 500 line: the South Pass (Fishhook)System, the Bluewater Header and East Leg, the Venice ProcessingPlant tailgate, and any other points on the 500 line requested byopen season participants.