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Tennessee Gas Pipeline has filed plans to increase capacity onsix separate pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico that together wouldrepresent an increase of over 720 MMcf/d in offshore lines owned byTennessee and other parties and a net increase in deliverabilityout of the Gulf of 200 MMcf/d.

In a deal that could be the first of its kind in the nation,Pacific Gas and Electric is locked in serious negotiations withnorthern California natural gas producers to sell them itsextensive utility gas gathering system linked to in-state wells,most of which are in the dry gas fields of the greater SacramentoValley. The deal being sought, which is expected to take the betterpart of 1998 to gain final regulatory approvals, is an offshoot ofthe omnibus Gas Accord unbundled intrastate transmission andstorage services that start March 1. The parties will not put adollar value on the facilities involved in the negotiations, but itis conservatively estimated at tens-if not hundreds-of millions ofdollars, involving hundreds of miles of low- and medium-pressurepipelines and related gathering facilities linked to more than 100producers.

Nova Gas Transmission subsidiary Nova Pipeline Ventures Limitedpartnership announced plans to build a $40 million natural gaspipeline to serve industrial customers in the Fort McMurray region.The 67-mile, 20- and 30-inch diameter pipeline will start at NGT’sBuffalo Lake compressor station on the Leige lateral innortheastern Alberta and extend to Suncor Energy oil sandsupgrading facility and potentially to another facility owned byNovagas Canada Ltd. (NCL). Initial capacity of the pipeline isexpected to be 250 MMcf/d of gas.

Columbia Gas Transmission supplemented the Millennium Pipeline project application (Docket No. CP98-151-000) at FERC last week with details of its proposed abandonment of the Milford Compressor Station and more than 200 miles of pipeline that make up most of its A-5 line in New York.

The 18,300 MW of new gas-fired power plants planned in the Northeast will be the litmus test of the gas-fired merchant power plant structure in the U.S., Resource Data International (RDI) of Boulder, CO, suggested in a new analysis.

As the retail market for natural gas and electricity moves into the competitive arena, few of the largest marketers are lining up behind Enron to serve small residential customers. El Paso Energy was the latest to declare its preference for large customers, saying it was closing regional offices in four eastern cities.

AlliedSignal Power Systems is gearing up to tackle the distributed generation microturbine market, which is expected to take off in 1999. This year it is scheduled to produce only 150 of its TurboGeneratorO units, each with 75 KW capacity, but the company has already presold 70% of the 5,000 units it was planning to produce next year, and is already thinking about increasing production. It originally planned to double production to 10,000 units in 2000, but those numbers may also change.

A new energy tax reform package debuted in New Jersey earlier this year with the intent of “leveling the playing field” between utilities and marketers in their zealous quest for natural gas customers, but the immediate and unintended fallout has been a dampening of customer interest in gas pilot programs.

PacifiCorp last week upped its bid for Britain’s The Energy Group to $12.62 per ordinary share, a 10% increase over the original bid made June 13. And FERC gave its blessing to the sale of assets held by Citizens Power, an Energy Group subsidiary. The asset sale is necessary for PacifiCorp’s bid to go forward.