Williams Cos. has accepted half of the outstanding shares of Denver-based Barrett Resources Corp., moving the Tulsa-based Williams one step closer to acquiring the gas-rich independent producer. Williams accepted nearly 17 million shares in its tender offer that expired a week ago, which translates into about 50% of Barrett’s 33.5 million shares outstanding. Under terms of its friendly merger agreement last month (see NGI, May 14), Williams will pay Barrett $73 a share for about 16.73 million shares. With more than half of the outstanding Barrett shares tendered, Williams will buy the rest of the shares on a pro rata basis. The deal is still on track to close in the third quarter. Barrett shareholders may then exchange each remaining share for 1.767 shares of Williams’ common shares.
NGI The Weekly Gas Market Report
Articles from NGI The Weekly Gas Market Report
EIA, CEC at Odds Over Intrastate Capacity Shortfall in CA
The Energy Information Agency (EIA) and the California Energy Commission (CEC) both agree there is a bottleneck where the interstate and intrastate grids meet in California. However, the two agencies are miles apart on the size of that difference.
GOP Leader: Price Caps Are Like ‘Steroids’
Price caps are “much like steroids — they make you look good in the short term, but they kill you in the long run,” warned Rep. J.C. Watts of Oklahoma and chairman of the House Republican Conference during the Natural Gas Roundtable last week.
CA Refiners Face Long Summer Absent Outage Exemption
With summer 2001 only a week away, all eyes are turning toward California to see how the embattled state handles itself through the three-month period when air conditioning usage reaches its peak and MW supply becomes scarce. With the California Energy Commission (CEC) and the California Independent System Operator (Cal-ISO) already on record expecting rotating power outages during peak afternoon demand hours in the state, the key issue is how will the outages impact petroleum product and natural gas supply in the state.
Nova Scotia Takes Step Toward Energy Policy
The Nova Scotia government took a page from the U.S. notebook last Thursday, hosting a forum that brought together industry, consumer and international expertise — including the U.S. ambassador — in a process to develop a secure energy strategy. The forum, which soon will lead to a formal policy, also set a precedent as the northern Canadian province aggressively pursues expansion of its vast resources.
Williams Test Market for Western Frontier Pipeline
Williams Gas Pipeline Central is holding a binding open season through June 29 for 540,000 Dth/d of firm capacity on its proposed Western Frontier Pipeline Project. The project would provide a new transportation corridor from the Cheyenne Hub in northern Colorado to market points and connections with other Midcontinent pipelines in Kansas and Oklahoma.
CA Legislative Leaders Revise Bills to Save Edison
Late in the week, Gov. Gray Davis met with the state legislative leaders who on both sides of the aisle were churning out new proposals for salvaging the state energy operations and keeping Southern California Edison Co. out of bankruptcy court. Consumer advocates and the state’s largest businesses are keeping a wary eye. Speculation is high that generators and the governor are going to have to give something, too.
CA Regulators Tackle Host of Gas Infrastructure Proposals
California regulators this week could start to lessen some of the uncertainty surrounding the in-state markets in the first of a series of natural gas infrastructure expansion decisions that ultimately could greatly expand the two major utility intra-state transmission/storage systems and make it easier for new interstate expansion projects into the state to get completed.
Mitchell Reserves 38% Higher in Six Months
Mitchell Energy & Development Corp. has added 580 Bcfe to its gas and oil reserves, and now is almost 2.1 Tcfe or 38% higher in reserves than at the beginning of this year. The largest single increase, 210 Bcfe, resulted from a successful step-out drilling in its largest development area, the North Texas Barnett Shale.
California Makes Long-Term Power Contracts Public
On orders from a state Superior Court judge, California officials Friday made public the 38 long-term electricity contracts it has signed this year with 18 suppliers and marketers. Along with the impact of conservation and favorable weather of late, the state’s long-term contracts have cut its average cost of spot market power from $275/MWh in February to $121/MWh this month.
