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Gold/Mining/Energy : KERM'S KORNER -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kerm Yerman who wrote (14132)	12/9/1998 7:12:00 AM
From: Kerm Yerman	Respond to of 15196

IN THE NEWS / Lost Hills Well Fire Extinguished December 8, 1998 What began with a bang, ended with barely a whimper Tuesday afternoon as the fiery well blowout near Lost Hills burned out on its own. The end came about 9 a.m. Tuesday, as the well began producing more water than burning oil and gas which finally overpowered the flames. At 60 to 70-percent water concentration combustion is no longer possible. The blowout first erupted on November 23rd, and for the past 15 days has burned fiercely, with flames shooting some two hundred feet in the air accompanied by a roar resembling that of a 747 jetliner on takeoff. Late Friday, the smooth, smokeless flame began sending off a geyser of steam as water was pulled into the stream of natural gas and oil coming from an estimated three miles underground. It wasn't known if the water was being produced from the same depth as the natural gas and oil, or if it is coming from a cracked casing above that level. With the fire out, a geyser of water is still spewing from the well along with a light mix of oil and natural gas. Larry Flak, Vice President of Engineering for Boots & Coots, the company hired to put out the fire, said crews will continue to try and control the well. A new rig was being erected about 1,500 feet from the once-burning well to drill what was to be a relief well. The new well will now be named Bellview #2 with drilling expected to last about 35 days. The fire-damaged well is said to have been destroyed and is to be filled with cement. The force and length of time the blowout raged created considerable speculation about a possible big find, but with the fire now out sources say it will take time to access what resources actually remain available for production. Market Reaction techstocks.com List Of Previous Bakersfield Articles bakersfield.com

To: Kerm Yerman who wrote (14132)	12/9/1998 7:20:00 AM
From: Kerm Yerman	Respond to of 15196

IN THE NEWS / Lost Hills Fireball Gives Way To Geyser December 8, 1998 By BOB CHRISTIE Californian staff writer LOST HILLS — Flames 200 feet tall gave way to a cascading liquid geyser Tuesday afternoon as water from deep underground overcame natural gas and oil and put out a well fire that had been blazing here for more than two weeks. The sudden — but not totally unexpected — turn of events came days after firefighters for Houston-based Boots & Coots International Well Control first noted water spewing out of the well along with the natural gas and oil that had fed a huge fireball since the well blew out Nov. 23. Tuesday morning, it became clear more water was being forced out of the deep wildcat well and it could put itself out. "It looked to us that it was going to be a race between us capping the well and it going out," said Larry Flak, vice-president of engineering for Boots & Coots. "It's real common for these wells, after they've blown out for a while, to start making water." The water-to-hydrocarbon ratio must exceed 60 percent to 70 percent before the fire can no longer burn, Flak said. Instead of a huge flame visible for miles, the well is now spouting like a broken fire hydrant. The water, mixed with natural gas, natural gas liquids and some light oil, is being turned into a fine mist and carried downwind. Tuesday afternoon, prevailing winds carried the plume across the nearby California Aqueduct, which provides drinking water for hundreds of thousands of Southern California residents. Kern County Fire Department officials said although a fine sheen of oily residue had been noted floating on the water, most of it was evaporating before it reached numerous booms and collectors set along the waterway as a precaution last week. "It's evaporating real quick," Capt. Kevin Scott said. "If it starts putting out heavy hydrocarbons and we start getting a heavier sheen, we'll bring in some vacuum trucks to collect it." The Boots & Coots crew will continue efforts to control the flow from the well as planned, Flak said. The lack of fire will both help and hinder the men trying to stop the enormous flow. No fire means cooler temperatures; it also means the chance of unexpected fire. Crews are shooting flares into the plume regularly, to make sure it is still not explosive. Although there is no longer enough oil and gas in the flow to spontaneously burn, there is enough gas pressure from the 17,640 foot-deep well to force a 200-foot tall geyser into the air, Flak said. That pressure, which initially exceeded 15,000 pounds per square inch, indicated a highly over-pressurized gas and oil reservoir. Overpressure in a oil or gas reservoir could be a good thing — if the reservoir is large. For a small reservoir, it could appear large because of the volume and pressure, but be emptied in days. No one yet knows which is the case in the new Lost Hills field. The origin of the water being produced is also a matter of concern. It could be coming from the same level as the oil and gas, or it could be coming from higher in the rock formations, being sucked into the stream of gas escaping from deep underground. Pressure is one of the factors that caused the crew manning the drilling rig to lose control of the well as they tried to clear natural gas from the well bore 16 days ago. The well was being drilled by a consortium of small Canadian and U.S. oil companies to explore the possibility that a large concentration of oil or gas was sitting more than three miles underground and nearly two miles from the closest oil field. The crew had drilled no more than 17 feet into the rock formation engineers believed held the oil when the well blew. It will take a new well, and possibly several more, before there is enough evidence to prove or disprove the existence of the very large reserves the companies believe are there. "The jury's still out on this one," said Claude Fiddler, a Bakersfield petroleum engineer who is a former Chevron executive. "It could be limited or it could portend bigger things " The Boots & Coots crew is finishing planned construction of a diverter assembly to send the flow into two pits. If all goes as planned, that assembly will be connected after a new blowout preventer is placed on the well head later this week. Although the diverter and new blowout preventer may slow the flow, the well itself may not be controlled for nearly two months. That's when a relief well — expected to begin drilling Saturday — reaches more than 13,000 feet, its drill bit steered to intercept the blown well's casing. At that time, engineers and roustabouts will likely pump cement into the failed well to "kill" it. "This well is lost — that's a given," Flak said. Paid for by insurance covering such events, the new well will be used to close off the blown-out well. Then, crews will back out the bit, and aim again for the rock formation that has been producing all the gas and oil that has lit the sky here for weeks. Market Reaction techstocks.com List Of Previous Bakersfield Articles bakersfield.com

To: Kerm Yerman who wrote (14132)	12/9/1998 7:25:00 AM
From: Kerm Yerman	Respond to of 15196

IN THE NEWS / Crude Talks In Vain By TODD NOGIER, CALGARY SUN Some of the world's most powerful oil-producing countries had the chance yesterday to pump up the price of crude. But they let it slip away -- another hit to world oil prices battered by sagging demand and oversupply. Heads of state for the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), a group of Persian Gulf Arab states that includes crude powerhouse Saudi Arabia, met for a second day yesterday for talks aimed at bolstering oil prices from near 12-year lows. GCC balked at making cuts outside of the most powerful group of oil producers in the world -- the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. "They have no plans to create a separate oil group to OPEC," said GCC secretary-general Sheikh Jamil Al-Hujailan. He added Gulf Arab leaders want to see OPEC members "fully adhere to already agreed upon production cuts." That sent the price of oil reeling as January futures for West Texas Intermediate -- North America's benchmark crude -- fell 17 cents on the New York Mercantile Exchange to $11.30 US a barrel. The crude's spot price fell 15 cents to close at $11.33. But according to a Calgary analyst, the GCC meeting was doomed before it started. Chances were slim that Saudi Arabia would voluntarily cut its production without its rival Venezuela matching the move, said Scott Inglis, managing director of FirstEnergy Capital Corp. of Calgary. That would mean giving up market share in the U.S. "I don't think anyone expected anything to come out of this meeting," he said. An OPEC meeting in Vienna, Austria, last November ended in gridlock as countries squabbled over cutbacks. Peter Linder, senior oil and gas analyst with CIBC Wood Gundy, said with failed meetings at OPEC and GCC, about the only hope for stronger oil prices in the short term is something no one has any control over -- winter. "Clearly now, more than ever, we need a cold winter," said Linder who expects prices could rise to $14 a barrel with the arrival of La Nina-like cold temperatures.

To: Kerm Yerman who wrote (14132)	12/9/1998 7:28:00 AM
From: Kerm Yerman	Read Replies (8) \| Respond to of 15196

IN THE NEWS / Gulf leaders winding up summit, defer decision on oil ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Leaders of six Arab states in the Persian Gulf apparently have decided to postpone until March a decision on cutting oil production and prepared to close their summit. Officials said the Gulf Cooperation Council meeting would end today with a resolution giving its positions on Iran's occupation of three gulf islands, a unified customs tariff and the 8-year-old U.N. sanctions on Iraq. But despite intense discussions on the record-low price of oil, the leaders were not convinced that further cuts in production would shore up the market, a gulf official said on condition of anonymity. Jamil al-Hojeilan, secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, said Tuesday that overproduction by oil-rich nations was to blame for the price slump. Al-Hojeilan told the Middle East Broadcasting Corp., an Arabic TV network, that "the whole problem" was caused by countries not sticking to production quotas. Venezuela, Iran, Indonesia and Qatar are believed to be the main over-producers. "The strategic view of oil policy in the GCC countries is to keep a balance between supply and demand. We hope that pledges of abiding by quotas agreed upon are respected," al-Hojeilan said. He denied that GCC oil ministers had agreed to reduce production. Officials at the summit earlier had made such a claim to The Associated Press, adding that the GCC ministers also agreed to ask other producers in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to join them in the cuts, starting in March. The message today was that gulf leaders and oil ministers had decided to defer a decision on production cuts to an OPEC meeting in March. Shortly before the GCC meeting began, January futures contracts for Brent crude, a widely watched benchmark, fell to a record low of $9.92 a barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange in London. Gulf oil generally sells at a dollar or two less than the North Sea's Brent, which was selling for about $20 a barrel as recently as 1997. The GCC comprises Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and the Emirates. All except Oman and Bahrain are members of OPEC. The gulf countries, which together sit on half the world's proven oil reserves and depend on exports for 75 percent of their revenues, have been hit hard by the collapse of oil prices. At the start of the three-day summit, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah warned that the oil boom days were over and that gulf states should face the new reality and tighten their belts. He suggested setting a maximum deadline of one year for setting up a GCC customs union that has been under discussion for 15 years. A final resolution, to be released later today at the summit's close, includes the one-year deadline, said summit officials, insisting on anonymity. The union, the first step to a common market, is a prerequisite for free trade deals with other trading blocs such as the GCC's main trading partner, the European Union. Kuwait's Al-Rai Al-Amm daily reported today that GCC leaders received a letter from Baghdad warning against a final statement that took a tough stance on Iraq. Summit officials, however, said they were unaware of such a letter. They said the final resolution would emphasize the need for U.N. sanctions against Iraq to be lifted, but only if Iraq abides by all Security Council resolutions and cooperates with U.N. weapons inspectors. The sanctions were imposed after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, which led to the Persian Gulf War. The resolution also will call for international arbitration of a territorial dispute between Iran and the Emirates, the officials said. Both claim Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs, three tiny islands Iran annexed in 1992. Iran has rejected arbitration in favor of direct talks.

To: Kerm Yerman who wrote (14132)	12/9/1998 7:37:00 AM
From: Kerm Yerman	Respond to of 15196

IN THE NEWS / Competition Bureau Fighting To Keep Propane Firms Separate Wednesday, December 9, 1998 STEVEN CHASE Alberta Bureau - The Globe & Mail Calgary -- Canada's competition watchdog is preparing to head back to court in another bid to keep the country's two largest propane companies separate until hearings on its application to block the merger conclude. Competition Bureau officials say they plan to seek the new application with or without the consent of Superior Propane Inc., whose purchase of Petro-Canada subsidiary ICG Propane Inc. sparked the monopoly concerns. As of late yesterday afternoon, the bureau was still negotiating with Superior Propane over a so-called "hold separate" application to the quasi-judicial Competition Tribunal that both could agree on. The bureau investigates concerns over mergers, while the tribunal, whose judges are drawn from the Federal Court of Canada, has the power to rule on these matters. The announcement came even as Superior Propane closed its $175-million purchase of ICG, a transaction that will give it more than 70 per cent of Canada's propane distribution market. It would be the bureau's third effort in the past week to halt the merger. The bureau concluded after a five-month investigation that the deal would erode customer choice and jack up propane prices. On Sunday, the bureau lost a bid before the tribunal to delay the Superior-ICG deal while it prepared a formal case to block the merger. The tribunal has not yet released reasons for this decision. Undaunted, the bureau quickly responded Monday by filing a formal application with the tribunal to block the merger, a move that will require hearings. However, it's likely these won't begin for several months. In the meantime, the bureau wants the tribunal to force Superior Propane to keep its operations separate from ICG because it fears the merger will be difficult to undo if its bid to block the purchase eventually succeeds. That's why it plans to file an application asking the tribunal to keep the companies separate until a decision on the merger is reached. "We're not going to let them scramble the eggs and then try and fix it after the fact," said Robert Lancop, assistant deputy director of investigations in the bureau's mergers branch. A hearing on the request to keep the companies separate is expected to commence at the tribunal shortly after it's filed. The manner in which the bureau will apply to delay the merger is different from its earlier failed application, Mr. Lancop said. This time the standards the bureau must meet in its application are lower because it's applying under a different section of the Competition Act after having already made a formal application to block the merger. And, while the previous application was to delay the merger, this bid will be to keep the companies separate despite the merger until a final tribunal decision is handed down. "The merger can go ahead, but the two operations must be kept separate from one another. No mixing of the eggs," Mr. Lancop said. The planned move will come despite efforts by Superior Propane to keep its operations somewhat separate from ICG. Superior Propane announced it would maintain ICG as a stand-alone entity until the tribunal rules on the merger. But the company is also appointing its chief operating officer, Geoffrey Mackey, as the new president and chief executive officer of ICG and placing Superior Propane representatives on ICG's board of directors. Mr. Lancop said the management and board changes do not meet a definition of what the agency considers keeping operations separate. "That doesn't sound too separate to me . . . we want a clear separation and when the management is running it, I am not persuaded it's a clear separation." He later added that he hopes the bureau can reach an amicable deal in which Superior Propane supports the new application the bureau will bring to the tribunal. "We believe we will reach a deal . . . it sounds promising." But Superior Propane CEO Grant Billing refused to rescind Mr. Mackey's appointment to please the bureau and stave off what's called a "hold separate" challenge. "We've already made the appointment and if they choose to challenge it, that's their prerogative." He said Superior Propane is convinced it can defend its decision to buy ICG Propane before the tribunal when a hearing is called. Superior Propane has long argued that competition won't be eroded after a merger because propane customers will be free to choose other fuels including natural gas, fuel oil and wood. Mr. Billing said Superior Propane is heartened by the fact the bureau failed to convince the tribunal in its last application that there would be a substantial reduction in fuel competition. However, Superior Propane cannot guarantee prices will stay the same and has not taken any steps to identify customers that support the merger, he acknowledged. In its five-month investigation of the deal, the bureau found that the deal would give Superior Propane a monopoly in Yukon and the Northwest Territories, an 87-per-cent market share in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, 82 per cent in British Columbia, 75 per cent in Quebec and 73 per cent in Ontario. Superior Propane Income Fund units rose 15 cents to close at $14.75 on the Toronto Stock Exchange yesterday, while Petrocan shares gained 30 cents to end at $17.25. Superior Propane is mostly owned by the Superior Propane Income Fund.

To: Kerm Yerman who wrote (14132)	12/9/1998 7:46:00 AM
From: Kerm Yerman	Respond to of 15196

IN THE NEWS / Canadian Hunter Debut Painful For Some Wednesday, December 9, 1998 Andrew Willis Canadian Hunter Exploration's debut is going to be a bitter memory for a few aggressive investors. The oil and gas arm of Noranda made its official entry on the market yesterday when it began trading on what known as an "if, as and when issued" basis on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The key word here is "official." For the past few weeks, going into last Thursday's shareholder vote approving the breakup of Noranda, anyone who owned shares in the natural resource conglomerate could trade shares in Canadian Hunter and other units on a grey market established by various investment dealers. Noranda's move to split its operations into separate companies was a popular one -- these days, investors are down on conglomerates and reward pure plays. The terms of the split were set down long ago by Noranda's board. For each Noranda share they owned, investors could expect one share in the new Noranda, a base metal miner, 0.436 of a share of Nexfor, the forest products unit, and 0.25 of a share in Canadian Hunter. In establishing a grey market for these stocks, dealers were giving impatient investors a sneak preview of the broken-up Noranda. In the grey market two weeks ago, Canadian Hunter was trading for $12 or more and volumes were decent, with a few hundred thousand shares changing hands in some sessions. Traders said Noranda's institutional shareholders who wanted a pure mining play, which has always been the company's chief attraction, were selling Canadian Hunter and locking in that $12 price. The oil company's buyers were those who wanted early admission to the newest show in the oil patch. Yesterday, those buying Canadian Hunter found that patience would have been a virtue. The recent fall in oil prices and uncertainty over Canadian Hunter's abilities as an independent entity combined to create a $10.30 price tag for the company's stock in the TSE's "when issued" market. Canadian Hunter was one of the day's most actively traded stocks, with 1.8 million shares changing hands. Speculators who paid $12 on the grey market, a list that likely includes some of the dealers, have taken a pasting. For the next few weeks, until the breakup is completed by year-end, Noranda will be the Street's favourite arbitrage. This game gives anyone with a calculator and quick access to the market a chance to trade the conglomerate against its parts. Here's how the math works: When yesterday's trading closed, Noranda was priced at $19.75, and 3.5 million shares changed hands, six times the normal daily volume. Now, apply the formula for breaking up Noranda to its offspring. New Noranda finished its first session at $14.85, on an impressive volume of 2.5 million shares, while 0.25 of a Canadian Hunter share was worth $2.58 and 0.436 of a Nexfor share was also worth $2.58. Add it up, and pieces of the companies that used to make up Noranda were valued at $20.01 late yesterday. Playing on the gap between this price and that of the parent company kept equity desks busy yesterday, and will continue to do so until the conglomerate is put to rest. The move didn't get much attention outside of accounting circles, but National Bank used unusual tactics to build up its balance sheet last week. The bank, smallest of the so-called Big Six, raised what's known as its "general allowances" -- money set aside against potential future losses -- by $300-million to $500-million. All bankers are being encouraged to make such moves by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions. The money, set aside in part to cover growing off-balance sheet activity and its associated credit risk, didn't show up in the bank's results for fiscal 1998 because it was taken out of retained earnings. If National Bank had taken the provision from last year's income, 1998 would have been a terrible year -- the bank's net income was $316-million. The controversy in accounting and analyst circles is that while what National Bank did was encouraged by federal regulators with OSFI, it doesn't square with GAAP rules that govern accountants and wouldn't be accepted by U.S. regulators such as the SEC. That latter issue isn't important to National Bank because its shares aren't listed on U.S. exchanges. Other Canadian banks, with U.S. listings, would have added to general allowances by taking the money from income. By looking elsewhere for funds, National Bank has made it more difficult to compare its results with those of its peers. In an effort to be one step ahead of the news, we note that MDC Communications completed a $42-million equity offering yesterday. MDC is a holding company for printing and advertising services -- its divisions make stamps, cheques and hockey tickets. The company is driven by Miles Nidal, an acquisition-hungry chief executive officer who's unlikely to let money gather dust in the till. A syndicate of seven dealers led by Nesbitt Burns sold three million MDC shares at $14 a pop, and buyers enjoyed a decent first day, as MDC closed yesterday at $14.25. The underwriters have an option to sell an additional 450,000 shares at $14; if that happens, Mr. Nidal's war chest will be even larger. Takeovers can't be far behind.

To: Kerm Yerman who wrote (14132)	12/9/1998 8:11:00 AM
From: Kerm Yerman	Respond to of 15196

IN THE NEWS / Devon Energy sets some of its US gas price at $2.01/MMBtu OKLAHOMA CITY, Dec 8 - Devon Energy Corp. said Tuesday it currently has agreements in place thateffectively fix the price the company will receive for a significant portion of its 1999 natural gas production. The agreements cover about 55,000 million British Thermal Units per day of Devon's U.S. gas production during 1999 at an average price of $2.01 per MMBtu, it said in a statement. Devon also currently has agreements covering about 8,000 MMBtu per day of the company's 1999 Canadian gas production at an average price of C$2.32 per MMBtu, the independent energy company said in a statement.

To: Kerm Yerman who wrote (14132)	12/9/1998 8:15:00 AM
From: Kerm Yerman	Respond to of 15196

IN THE NEWS / Devon Energy Sets Final Northstar Energy Exchange Ratio OKLAHOMA CITY, Dec 8 - Devon Energy Corp. said Tuesday that it set the final exchange ratio for the company's proposed merger with Canadian based Northstar Energy Corp so that shareholders will receive 0.235 shares for each Northstar share. In total, Devon expects to issue about 16.1 million shares in connection with the merger in June, the independent energy company said in a statement. Devon closed Tuesday at 30, up 11/16. The exchangeable shares will be traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "NSX." Northstar Energy is a Canadian company engaged in petroleum and natural gas exploration and production.

To: Kerm Yerman who wrote (14132)	12/9/1998 8:26:00 AM
From: Kerm Yerman	Respond to of 15196

IN THE NEWS / TSE Posts Gains As Oil Companies Rebound Strength in the oil and utilities sectors kept the Toronto stock market from sliding into the red Tuesday despite heavy late-day losses in New York. The TSE 300 index gained 32.89 points to close at 6,399.77 as BCE Inc. -- the country's most widely held stock -- and several big oil companies posted hefty gains. The Canadian dollar, meanwhile, fell more than a fifth of a cent on North American currency markets. The advances in the oil and gas group -- 2.14 per cent overall -- were surprising considering conflicting reports emerged from a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council, whose members control much of the world's oil reserves. Some Arab oil ministers had planned to cut oil production to shore up depressed world prices, but the meeting in the United Arab Emirates failed to reach a consensus. Still, Calgary-based Talisman Energy Inc. jumped $2.75 to $29.80, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. managed to gain $1.15 to close at $23.25, Rigel Energy Corp. gained $1.00 at $10 and Renaissance Energy Ltd. added 70 cents to $18.35. "The blue-chip guys did pretty well," said Rick Hutcheon, president of CentrePost Mutual Funds in Toronto. The utilities sector gained 2.08 per cent as BCE Inc. rose $2 to $56.15 on 2.2 million shares traded. Nortel Networks was up $1.35 to $75.70 on two million shares traded. The communications and media sector also performed well, gaining, 1.58 per cent as Shaw Communications jumped $2.50 to $36.20. Sun Media Corp., the object of a takeover bid by Torstar Corp., rose 10 cents to $18.80 on 1.6 million shares traded. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 42.49 points to close at 9,027.98. At one point, however, the Dow was down more than 100 points. Analysts said the Dow, which went into a steep dive after 1 p.m., was sideswiped by profit-taking and programmed selling, which seemed to hit for no apparent reason. The Dow "had a pretty heroic run (in November) and it's the end of the year, so you're going to have some swings," said Hutcheon. "Portfolio managers are getting their portfolios all dressed up for the year-end... It will be pretty messy in the next couple of weeks." One analyst said the U.S. bond market rallied Tuesday as a committee opened the final stage of its inquiry into allegations of perjury, obstruction of justice and abuse of power stemming from U.S. President Bill Clinton's affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. The Dow remains more than 300 points below the record of 9,374.27 set Nov. 23. Meanwhile, the Canadian dollar closed at 64.77 cents US on Tuesday, down 0.22 cent from Monday's close. Traders dumped the currency to mark the beginning of the traditional year-end selloff. The loonie has lost almost a half cent in the past week. "Once we're into December, the market is a bit leery about the Canadian dollar," said Steven Butler, associate director of foreign exchange trading at Scotiabank in Toronto. "The dollar has a steady history of weakening at the end of the year -- it has a lot of bond maturities at the end of December and there's a lot of year-end demand for U.S. dollars." The loonie has lost much of the momentum it built up after the Quebec election when Premier Lucien Bouchard said a referendum on independence would not be held for quite some time. "But I don't think the dollar is going to get a lot weaker," said Butler. "We're still in a trading range."

To: Kerm Yerman who wrote (14132)	12/9/1998 8:35:00 AM
From: Kerm Yerman	Respond to of 15196

IN THE NEWS / U.S. & Canadian Spot Natural Gas Export & Import Prices Canadian Spot Natural Gas Export Prices - December 8th EXPORT (DEC SWING) $CDN/GJ $US/MMBTU HUNTINGDON B.C. 2.87/2.94 2.00/2.05 KINGSGATE B.C. (TO PNW) 2.51/2.59 1.75/1.80 MONCHY SASK 2.20/2.27 N 1.53/1.58 N EMERSON MAN 2.37/2.44 1.65/1.70 NIAGARA ONT 2.69/2.76 1.87/1.92 Canada/U.S. dollar conversion based on Bank of Canada rate. Canadian spot natural gas domestic prices - December 8th DOMESTIC (DEC SWING) $CDN/GJ $US/MMBTU ALBERTA PLANT-GATE 1.92/1.97 1.34/1.37 ALBERTA BORDER - EMPRESS 2.09/2.14 1.45/1.49 STATION 2, B.C. 2.45/2.50 1.71/1.74 SASK. PLANT-GATE 1.92/1.97 1.34/1.37 TORONTO CITY-GATE 2.64/2.71 1.84/1.89 1-YR PCKGS - EMPRESS 2.62/2.67 1.82/1.86 AECO 2.04/2.09 1.42/1.45 N=notional. One yr package beginning Nov. 1, 1999. Canada/U.S. dollar conversion based on Bank of Canada noon rate. One year packages converted to U.S. dollars at a 12-month forward rate. U.S. Spot Natural Gas Prices - December 8th DECEMBER ($/mmBtu) 12/8 12/7 U.S. GULF OFFSHORE 1.68/1.73 1.34/1.39 TEXAS COAST 1.73/1.78 1.40/1.45 WESTERN TEXAS 1.92/1.97 1.65/1.70 LOUISIANA COAST 1.73/1.78 1.38/1.43 NORTHERN LOUISIANA 1.75/1.80 1.40/1.45 OKLAHOMA 1.87/1.92 1.67/1.72 APPALACHIA 1.90/1.95 1.83/1.88 SO. CALIFORNIA BORDER 2.17/2.22 2.14/2.19 HENRY HUB 1.78/1.80 1.41/1.46 WAHA HUB 1.93/1.98 1.68/1.73