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Natural gas prices for Columbia Gas of Ohio’s customers are expected to drop along with the temperatures, the company said Thursday. Beginning in November and through January billings, Columbia will reduce its gas cost to 48 cents per 100 cubic feet — a drop of 20% over last year.

Despite cries by Republican senators for a stripped-down energy bill because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee said he remains undeterred in his drive to vote out a “balanced and comprehensive energy” bill during this session.

Cinergy Corp. announced several organizational changes, including a new president for its subsidiary, Cincinnati Gas & Electric, to be effective Oct. 1. Gregory C. Ficke, currently vice president and chief information officer of regulated businesses for Cinergy, will become president of Cincinnati Gas & Electric, succeeding Joe Hale, who remains vice president of corporate communications and president of the Cinergy Foundation. Larry E. Thomas and Douglas F. Esamann have been named vice chairman and president, respectively, of PSI Energy, Inc. William J. Grealis will become executive vice president, special projects. He was CEO of regulated businesses. James L. Turner will have full responsibility for the regulated businesses organization and will retain the title of president, regulated businesses. Cinergy/CG&E serves 800,000 electric and 500,000 gas customers in southwestern Ohio and northern Kentucky.

If Devon Energy Corp. and Mitchell Energy & Development Corp. have to amend their merger agreement, they may create a new holding company to ensure that the transaction remains tax-free for Mitchell shareholders. The proposed change to the merger agreement was announced Wednesday (see Daily GPI, Sept. 27). Under the existing agreement, Mitchell would merge with a subsidiary of Devon in a tax-free transaction to the extent that Mitchell’s shareholders would receive cash. Because of the decline in Devon’s stock price in recent weeks, the original agreement created doubt as to whether those opinions could be obtained at closing. An amended agreement would require both parties to complete the transaction as structured if the tax opinions are available, but in the event that the opinions are not available, the parties would create a new holding company with Devon and Mitchell the subsidiaries. By doing this, Devon’s shareholders would exchange each of their Devon shares for one share of the new holding company and Mitchell shareholders would exchange their shares for .585 shares of the new company and $31 in cash. The new holding company, which would keep the transaction tax-free except for the cash paid to Mitchell shareholders, would include Devon’s current board of directors along with Todd Mitchell, the son of Mitchell CEO George Mitchell.

Florida Gas Transmission ended Thursday an Overage Alert Day notice that had been in effect since Sept. 18.

Noting that at the end of August it had experienced significant long imbalances after posting the final cash-out index, Sonat said Wednesday that “similar economic conditions exist this month.” Shipper were advised to monitor the bulletin board for possible issuance of a Type 6 OFO for the weekend if flowing supply levels and demand cause Sonat to exceed its maximum storage injection capability.

In an ironic twist, the same Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) administrative law judge (ALJ) who had cited Oneok for contempt in May for refusing to turn over documents related to an OCC investigation on Wednesday granted the company’s motion for a stay in the state attorney general’s request that the company be cited for contempt for not turning over the same documents related to natural gas sales made last winter.

The late-September incremental market was geographically mixed Wednesday. Eastern points tended to range from flat to down about a dime, while except for similarly softer Permian/Waha quotes, the West was flat to nearly a dime higher.

After flirting with new lows for much of the morning on Wednesday, natural gas futures made a break lower in the afternoon as traders continued their mass exodus of long positions on the news that the market was able to post yet another robust storage injection figure. The October contract limped off the board at $1.83, down 9.5 cents for the day and a whopping 56.3 cents less than where it was when it became the prompt contract a month ago.