NATURAL GAS MARKETING CENTER SCHEDULED FOP OPAL, WYO., AREA

A three company combine plans to set up a facility billed as the first full service gas marketing center in the U.S.

Plans by Tenneco Gas, Questar Corp., and Entech Inc., a division of Montana Power, call for the Western Market Center to be located south of Opal, Wyo. Site is at a pipeline junction called Muddy Creek, focal point of a large gas producing area and regional hub for five major gas pipelines that serve markets in the U.S. West and Midwest.

The center, to be operated by an independent company, is expected to begin full service operations late this year.

Ewell Muse III, market center president, said the facility will be a true one stop resource for a wide array of natural gas trading and transportation services.

What will make the center unique, Muse said, is its location and ability to offer a broad group of services such as wheeling, peaking, parking, and balancing, title tracking, and electronic gas trading.

Developed to respond to the new deregulated environment shaping the U.S. natural gas industry, the center aims to help lead the trend toward regional gas marketing hubs.

The center system will include a new header facility that will allow Muddy Creek area pipelines to flow gas in many directions. This will provide customers a wheeling service that gives them the option of redirecting gas flows to take advantage of new market and supply opportunities.

THE DETAILS

The three company combine provided these details on what's planned:

One step flow - The center will allow gas buyers and sellers to wheel gas in and out of their facilities assisted by a real time, state of the art, electronic management system. This enables customers to redirect gas flow to a large array of destinations. Suppliers will have access to nearly all of the major population and industrial centers in western North America. Gas buyers will have access to about 1.8 bcfd.
One step store - The center will provide access to gas for short term emergencies, offer access to storage facilities to temporarily park gas, and supply gas to help shippers balance their monthly nominations and allocations.
One step data - This system will provide customers current cash prices at Muddy Creek; futures trading prices; condensed industry, financial and regulatory news through an electronic bulletin board; the latest weather forecast for western North America, and other data. The information service will be available to customers through their personal computers.
One step title - The center will track transactions as they occur at the Muddy Creek header. Because units of gas are often bought and sold many times and split into many combinations, title chains are often long and incredibly complex. If a deal unravels, customers will be alerted and know immediately whom to contact to recover their positions.
Electronic trading - The center will offer customers access to one of the first systems to usher cash trading of gas into the electronic age. Like a stock market, the system will provide blind matching of buy and sell orders. From personal computers, customers will be able to enter buy/sell orders and complete transactions in seconds.