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Avista Energy will be shopping this year for gas storage in theMidwest and Northeast, and for electric generation and transmissioncapacity in the Pacific Northwest as part of an effort to bolsterits gas and power marketing portfolio, Avista President LloydMeyers said last week. “These will be necessary tools as westrengthen our competitive edge in an energy landscape thatcontinues to evolve.”

The March Nymex futures contract fell another 1.9 cents to$2.198 Friday, as traders continued the falloff in prices theystarted on Thursday. “This was not a case of traders gunning forstops, where they try to push the contract under support hoping thecontract will fall even more. This was simply an extension ofThursday,” a broker said.

Despite a 150% increase in its gas-fired power portfolio lastyear, San Jose-based Calpine Corp. proved last week its buyingspree isn’t letting up. The company has entered into exclusivenegotiations to acquire Dow Chemical’s 70 MW natural gas-firedpower plant and a natural gas pipeline system located adjacent toDow’s chemical plant in Pittsburg, CA. The pipeline delivers gas tothe plant directly from Sacramento basin fields. Calpine sees thesite as a perfect location to add more generation capacity andcontinue to grow its position in the deregulating Californiaelectricity and gas marketplace.

Customer choice for all Pennsylvania natural gas customers couldbecome an option within the next few months, and the law thatemerges from the months of statehouse wrangling could add directionto unbundling activities in other states.

An additional 200 MMcf/d of gas could enter the Californiamarket now that the former Naval oil reserve at Elk Hills in thesouthern central agricultural valley of California is totallyprivatized, according to most of the oil/gas people in thisenergy-dominated part of the state. The new supplies would be addedto a state already experiencing a large overcapacity of interstatesupplies.

The Georgia Public Service Commission has refused to approvethree industrial supply deals signed by Atlanta Gas Light becausethe LDC filed to become a part of Georgia’s competitive gas market.

Noted Economist Dr. Alfred Kahn is a firm believer thatregulators ought to plan for their “demise” as they usher incompetition to monopoly industries, but he conceded last week thatthis may not be entirely conceivable in the electric utilityindustry.

Fearing that it might be growing dusty and staid, FERC earlierthis month kicked off a three-month, all-encompassing review of itsprocedures and processes “to try and keep current with the times,including a very changing energy marketplace that we regulate,”Chairman James Hoecker said.

Fearing that it might be growing dusty and staid, FERC earlierthis month kicked off a three-month, all-encompassing review of itsprocedures and processes “to try and keep current with the times,including a very changing energy marketplace that we regulate,”Chairman James Hoecker said.