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

To: Kerm Yerman who wrote (14384)	12/18/1998 2:21:00 AM
From: Kerm Yerman	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 15196

ENERGY TRUSTS - MISC / First Premium Oil & Gas Income Trust - Declares Year End Income Distribution FIRST PREMIUM OIL & GAS INCOME TRUST TSE, ME SYMBOL: FPG.UN DECEMBER 17, 1998 TORONTO, ONTARIO--First Premium Oil & Gas Income Trust has declared a quarterly income distribution of C$0.1875 per Unit payable December 31, 1998 to holders of record on such date. This distribution will ensure that the Trust distributes sufficient of its net income and net realized capital gains for 1998 so that it will not be liable for tax. The amount of the distribution may therefore be subject to minor adjustment. First Premium Oil & Gas Income Trust's investment objectives are to provide Unitholders with a stable stream of quarterly distributions of at least $ 0.1875 per Unit. The Trust intends to achieve its investment objectives by investing in a diversified portfolio consisting primarily of common shares issued by corporations that are included in the TSE 300 Oil & Gas Sub-Index and up to 20 percent of the cost amount of its assets in common shares issued by corporations that are included in the Standard & Poor's 500 Oil & Gas Sub-Index. In either case, in order to generate returns above the dividend income generated by the portfolio, the Trust will write covered call options in respect of all or part of the securities in the portfolio. The Trust's investment portfolio is managed by it's investment manager, Mulvihill Capital Management. Trust Units are listed on The Toronto Stock Exchange and The Montreal Exchange under the symbol FPG.un.

To: Kerm Yerman who wrote (14384)	12/18/1998 2:29:00 AM
From: Kerm Yerman	Respond to of 15196

PIPELINES / Westcoast Energy Files Millennium West Pipeline Application TSE, VSE, ME SYMBOL: W NYSE SYMBOL: WE DECEMBER 17, 1998 VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--Westcoast Energy Inc. (Westcoast) today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary St. Clair Pipelines (1996) Ltd. (St. Clair) has filed an application with the National Energy Board to construct new natural gas pipeline facilities upstream of the proposed Millennium Pipeline. The new pipeline facilities, with an estimated cost of $165 million, would begin at the Dawn Market Hub in southwestern Ontario and extend to the Lake Erie shoreline northwest of Patrick Point, Ontario. The Dawn facilities are owned by Westcoast's wholly owned subsidiary Union Gas Limited. The 74-kilometre Millennium West Pipeline and 28-megawatt compressor station, with a combined capacity of 700 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, would connect to the Millennium Pipeline through a proposed TransCanada PipeLines Ltd. pipeline crossing from the Lake Erie shoreline to an underwater connection point at the Canada- U.S. border. An application for this project was recently filed with the National Energy Board. The proposed Millennium Pipeline would then extend 711 kilometres from the international export point beneath Lake Erie to Westchester County, New York. Millennium Pipeline has made an application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for project approval in order to meet an expected November 2000 in-service date. Millennium Pipeline project sponsors are Westcoast Energy Inc., TransCanada PipeLines Ltd., Columbia Energy Group, and MCN Energy Group. "The Millennium West and Millennium Pipeline projects further position Union Gas' Dawn Hub as an ideal natural gas supply destination and delivery point to serve growing markets in the mid- Atlantic and northeast United States," said Michael Stewart, Executive Vice President, Business Development for Westcoast Energy Inc. Westcoast Energy Inc. (TSE: W; NYSE: WE) headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, is a leading North American energy company with assets of more than $10 billion. The Company's interests include natural gas gathering, processing and transmission, natural gas storage facilities and gas distribution, power generation, and international energy businesses as well as financial, information and energy services businesses. More information is available on the Company's Web site at www.westcoastenergy.com

To: Kerm Yerman who wrote (14384)	12/18/1998 2:38:00 AM
From: Kerm Yerman	Respond to of 15196

PIPELINES / Unocal Agrees to Sell Interest in Alliance Pipeline Project EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Dec. 17 /CNW/ -- Unocal Corporation (NYSE: UCL) today said it had signed a letter agreement to sell its 9.078-percent interest in the Alliance Pipeline Project to Vancouver-based Westcoast Energy Inc. (NYSE: WE) for approximately US$50 million in cash. "In the current commodity price environment, we need to channel the bulk of Unocal's available cash flow and capital dollars into our core oil and gas exploration and development projects," said Roger C. Beach, Unocal chairman and chief executive officer. "With this sale, we will be able to apply the proceeds to our high-potential growth opportunities, while avoiding about $30 million in capital expenditures associated with development of the project in 1999." The sale is scheduled to close by the end of December, subject to completion of formal agreements. Unocal anticipates posting a gain in the fourth quarter from the transaction. The sale is subject to approval by the project participants and lenders and applicable governmental agencies. The Unocal interest in the Alliance Pipeline Project is held by various Unocal U.S. and Canadian subsidiaries. The Alliance Pipeline Project includes a planned 1,900-mile (3,100- kilometer) pipeline designed to transport more than 1.3 billion cubic feet of gas per day from British Columbia and Alberta to the Chicago-area market for processing and distribution throughout North America. The pipeline is scheduled begin service in late 2000. Unocal is one of the world's largest independent oil and gas exploration and production companies, with major resource development, power plant and pipeline projects in Central and Southeast Asia, Latin America and the U.S. Gulf of Mexico region.

To: Kerm Yerman who wrote (14384)	12/18/1998 2:44:00 AM
From: Kerm Yerman	Respond to of 15196

ENERGY TRUSTS - MISC / Pembina Pipeline Income Fund December 1998 Cash Distribution CALGARY, Dec. 17 /CNW/ - The Board of Trustees of Pembina Pipeline Income Fund has approved the cash distribution to Unitholders for the month of December. The distribution, totalling $4,369,750 or $0.07 per Trust Unit, will be payable to Unitholders of record December 31, 1998 and will be paid on January 15, 1999. With this distribution, the Fund has paid $59.3 million or 95 cents per Unit for 1998, which is precisely as forecast for the calendar year 1998 in Pembina's initial public offering. Pembina Pipeline Income Fund is a Canadian income fund engaged, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Pembina Pipeline Corporation, in the transportation of crude oil, condensate and natural gas liquids in Western Canada. The Fund's units trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol PIF.UN.

To: Kerm Yerman who wrote (14384)	12/18/1998 2:50:00 AM
From: Kerm Yerman	Read Replies (9) \| Respond to of 15196

FINANCING / Raven Energy Ltd. Closes Private Placement CALGARY, Dec. 17 /CNW/ - Raven Energy Ltd. announces the closing of a private placement whereby the company sold 1,050,000 common shares at the price of $0.21 per share for total proceeds of $220,500. The proceeds of this issue will be used to identify and evaluate businesses, assets and exploration prospects. In addition, a portion of the proceeds will be added to the company's working capital. Raven Energy Ltd. is a junior capital pool company actively identifying and evaluating exploration prospects in the oil and gas industry.

To: Kerm Yerman who wrote (14384)	12/18/1998 3:15:00 AM
From: Kerm Yerman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15196

IN THE NEWS / Lost Hills Workers Set Up Shop At Site Of Well Blowout Filed: December 17, 1998 By BOB CHRISTIE Californian staff writer LOST HILLS - A small industrial site has sprung up here where a wildcat gas well blew out and caught fire more than three weeks ago. Hundreds of workers are toiling to run a small oil/water/natural gas separator operation, clean up oil-doused areas, prepare for further well control operations and ready a new drilling site. The well, which blew out Nov. 23 and burned for two weeks, still is spouting a continuous stream of water, oil and condensed natural gas liquids and a large amount of natural gas. That gas is being burned off, creating a huge flare and a plume of steam, because the well's operators are using the fire to burn off about half of the water flowing from the well. The amount of gas being produced by the wildcat well is a matter of intense interest. Observations by three different sources that have knowledge of the well's operations put the amount of gas being flared as high as 40 million cubic feet per day, an amount equal to more than 7,000 barrels of oil. However, the president of the company that is operating the site, Aidan Walsh of Elk Point Resources Inc. of Calgary, cautioned that he does not have consistent and accurate measurements of the amount of gas coming from the well and any estimates could be wildly inaccurate. "The volume estimates of hydrocarbon and water being produced at this time are not reliable due to very high temperatures and fluctuating operating conditions," Walsh said. "It's a unique situation - because of the very high temperatures, a lot of the hydrocarbon that would normally be liquid is being flashed off and flared and consumed. They are very high temperatures; that's why the volume estimates of hydrocarbons and water are not reliable." Regardless of the lack of accurate production numbers, the well appears to be putting out a great deal of gas - a flaring device burns consistently with a flame more than 50 feet long and roiling up to 75 feet in the air. A new valve placed on the well head last week by a team from Boots & Coots International Well Control of Houston is sending the water and hydrocarbons flowing from the well into two 7-inch diverter pipes, which lead to a mini-refinery designed to separate oil, water and natural gas. About 9,000 barrels of water are being trucked away to disposal wells each day; the rest is mixed in the gas flare and vaporized. A new Nabors Drilling USA well drilling rig has been erected about 1,500 yards away from the site of the original well, and was expected to begin the minimum six-week job of drilling a relief well late Thursday. That well will be sunk to depths between 13,500 and 14,000 feet before being sidetracked to intercept the blown well. If the well hasn't been controlled by above-ground efforts by the time the relief well reaches that depth, it will likely be sealed by pumping cement into the bore from the relief well. A snubbing unit is being brought in to try to control the well from above ground. According to Boots & Coots lead firefighter James Tuppen, the snubbing unit is designed to be able to enter a well even in the presence of very high pressures, through an elaborate series of blowout preventer valves. Many operations are possible if the well can be entered with the snubbing unit, including retrieving part of the drilling string lost when the well blew and testing the well's casing for failures. At the well site Thursday, teams of hazardous materials specialists wearing protective garments steam cleaned the concrete banks of the California Aqueduct, removing a residue of light oil and natural gas liquids that rained down on the area for the four days the uncapped well was not ablaze. Dozens of acres of nearby farmland also has been coated in a thin film of light brown liquid. The breeze carries the light smell of oil. Walsh said local specialists are working to clean the area and assess the extent of operations necessary. The oil tainting the soil of nearby farmland could be consumed by naturally occurring bacteria, he added. Officials with the state Department of Water Resources, which operates the aqueduct, said there is no contamination of water supplies and any oil that has gotten into the water has been skimmed off. Booms and absorbent materials are slung in the waterway to collect any residue from the steam cleaning operations. Testing has been done regularly and shows no discernible oil. "We've had oil spills before; we know how to deal with it," said Dee Bankston, operations chief with the local field division of the Water Resources Department. "We're trained in it. We do all the notifications and handle it. "If there was any danger at all we would be shutting the system down and taking care of it," he added.