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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.

Sonat Energy Services purchased a 50-percent limited partnershipinterest in GPU International’s Mid-Georgia Cogen L.P. power plant.”Our experience in both natural gas and power marketing has shownus that investing in state-of-the-art natural gas-fired electricpower generation is a key ingredient to providing our customerswith the services they need in today’s competitive market,” saidSonat Energy Service s President Richard Bates. The 300 MWcogeneration power plant is a dispatchable natural gas-fired,combined cycle facility located in Kathleen, GA. It is scheduled toenter commercial operation in the second quarter of 1998. Inaddition to providing thermal energy to a Frito-Lay snack foodprocessing plant and electrical capacity to Georgia Power, thefacility also will be available to sell wholesale energy to avariety of customers. Mid-Georgia Cogen is the first independentpower project developed in Georgia.

Prices continued to rise Thursday in trading for both lateFebruary and March. It was mostly a response to the screen’sbelated run-up Wednesday, sources said, but there was enoughblizzard-like weather spreading out from the Upper Plains region togive prices a little extra boost.

The April Nymex contract got off to a fast start Thursday byopening at $2.32 and quickly moving to $2.34. However, strongtechnical selling kicked in at that point, so much so that Aprilslid back to settle the day down 3.4 cents at $2.284.