NGI Archives

A new gas tolling agreement between TransCanada PipeLines andthe Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) soon mayreplace Nova Gas Transmission’s 19-year-old, postage-stamp pricingsystem with a formula based on distance- and the diameter of thepipe used for transportation. A memorandum of understanding (MOU),signed by CAPP and TransCanada, marks the culmination of asettlement process started when the Canadian gas industry signed apeace accord last April, which also assured construction of theAlliance Pipeline and approval of the TransCanada-Nova merger.

Don’t get sick of merger-mania quite yet, warns All Star Oilanalyst Fadel Gheit. Burlington Resources is leading the next waveof attractive independent oil and gas producers that are ripe fortakeover, he claims.

Inability to find a buyer for its “high-quality” Gulf of Mexicoproperties pushed Miami-based Forcenergy over the edge into Chapter11 bankruptcy this week, Chairman Stig Wennerstrom said in aconference call.

The Senate unanimously passed two economic relief measures forindependent oil and gas producers on Tuesday. The bad news,however, is that the initiatives are part of a supplementalspending bill that President Clinton has threatened to veto becausethe expenditures – mostly for foreign aid efforts – would cut intospending for domestic programs that he supports.

Seeking to accommodate growth, Southern Energy Inc. will move toa new Atlanta office, with the Southern Company Energy Marketingunit relocating by December and the headquarters going a yearlater.

Legislation prescribing voluntary unbundling of Colorado’s gasdistribution industry has now gone to a state House appropriationscommittee. The sponsor of SB 153, Sen. David T. Owen, said heexpects it to pass with little or no trouble. Unlike legislationthat unbundled Georgia’s gas industry, the Colorado legislationdoes not delve into specifics of unbundling but rather leaves themup to the state Public Utility Commission (PUC).

Enron’s retail energy provider, Enron Energy Services (EES), hasnot turned a profit to date but is expected to do so by the fourthquarter of this year and “from then on,” said Marty Sunde, EES’senior vice president of sales and marketing.

The nation’s largest gas distributor, Southern California Gas,earlier this week signaled a possible future change in the way itscustomers access intrastate transmission during oral arguments atthe CPUC on future changes in California’s gas industry. Inaddition, for the first time, a number of the 19 major participantsin the state’s gas restructuring proceeding suggested a settlementprocess might be adopted to resolve some controversial issues.

Pennaco Energy and TransMontaigne Inc. subsidiary Bear PawEnergy signed a gathering agreement in which Bear Paw will buildand operate a new gathering line in the Powder River Basin ofnortheastern Wyoming and provide services to about 10% of Pennaco’scoal-bed methane program in the basin. The agreement covers thePennaco “South Gillette,” WY contract area, including over 8,600gross leasehold acres and 200 potential well locations. Pennaco hasdrilled and is in the process of testing and completing its first100 wells in the area. The Bear Paw gathering systems will connectPennaco’s gas wells to several major pipelines, including theWestern Gas Resources MIGC Pipeline, currently transporting up to130 MMcf/d of coal-bed gas, the recently announced Fort Union GasPipeline projected to be in service by September of this year, andthe proposed Thunder Creek Pipeline. The remaining 90% of Pennaco’s312,000 net acres in the Powder River will be devoted to FortUnion.