NGI The Weekly Gas Market Report

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.

A leading gas marketer last week decried FERC’s reprimand ofNatural Gas Pipeline Company of America (NGPL) formarketing-affiliate improprieties as being far too light. The minoradmonishment, according to Natural Gas Clearinghouse (NGC), failedto provide adequate redress to the overall market, and to producersand marketers victimized by the Midwest pipeline’s wrongdoing.

Pipelines are breathing a lot easier in the wake of a FERC orderthat said Texas Eastern Transmission (Tetco) acted reasonably whenit demanded further financial security from Public Service Electricand Gas (PSEandG) as a condition for authorization to transfertransportation contracts (worth over $3 billion in payments,according to the pipeline) to a wholly-owned subsidiary. ChairmanJames J. Hoecker said the Commission was merely clarifying itspolicy in light of this particular case, but the decision may causedistribution companies to think twice about transferringliabilities to avoid paying stranded costs.

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.

For table see Preliminary Ranking of Top North American Gas Marketers By 1997 Sales Volumes (Bcf/d) Too many marketers? Perish the thought! But that’s what one industry analyst maintains. So many players scrambling after ever-shrinking margins makes for tough competition, especially for the little guys, says PaineWebber gas group analyst Ron Barone. “I believe there’s…

Duke/Fluor Daniel won a contract with Ingleside Cogeneration to design and build a $210 million, 440 MW natural gas-fired cogeneration power plant near Ingleside, TX. Work started in December of last year and is expected to be completed in December 1999. The new plant will be adjacent to chemical complexes owned by OxyChem and DuPont. When complete, the plant will sell up to 235 MW of electric power and 1.1 million pounds per hour of process steam to OxyChem. The balance of electricity (205 MW) will be sold into the Texas market. Ingleside Cogeneration is a project-specific partnership between OxyChem, a unit of Occidental Petroleum, and Conoco Global Power Inc. Duke/Fluor Daniel is a partnership formed in 1989 by Fluor Daniel and a unit of Duke Energy.

Natural Gas Producer Purchaser Satisfaction Index 1997 Competition and the quest for greater volume may be what drive the gas marketing business, but a new survey of producer customers actually shows many marketers haven’t lost interest in attributes such as performance, dependability and service with a smile. The 1997 index (second edition) of Natural Gas…

Customer choice for all Pennsylvania natural gas customers could become an option within the next few months, and the law that emerges from the months of statehouse wrangling could add direction to unbundling activities in other states.

Offshore Energy Development Corp. (OEDC) faces a class action onbehalf of shareholders alleging the company misrepresented itsperformance to investors and certain officials participated ininsider trading.