North American natural gas pipeline and supply update

A series of overhead viewgraphs accompanied this presentation which presented an update of North American natural gas supply. Some of the graphs depicted the following: (1) natural gas consumption in the United States, (2) U.S. imports of Canadian natural gas, (3) natural gas prices differential: Henry Hub versus Empress, (4) natural gas production in the U.S., and (5) Baker Hughes active rig count, U.S. gas rigs. First Energy's view of U.S. natural gas supply is that the estimate of 50.0 Bcf/d for U.S. domestic production is looking too high. The first quarter 1999 exit production rates are behind expectations. U.S. domestic natural gas expenditure budgets are still down by more than 40 per cent compared to 1998 levels. The impact that this will have on prices was discussed. 21 figs