Business Notes Energy

! The new company's mammoth pipes will cover 37,000 miles, stretching from Canada to Texas, from California to Florida. InterNorth of Omaha announced last week that it would buy Houston Natural Gas for $2.26 billion in a friendly transaction that will create the longest natural gas pipeline system in the U.S. The combined network will deliver roughly 9% of the gas consumed in the U.S.

The natural gas pipeline industry is now experiencing a flurry of mergers in the wake of congressional deregulation of its business. Only two months ago, two other companies, Coastal and American Natural Resources, agreed to join forces and form an 18,300-mile pipeline system that will be the second largest in the U.S. Wall Street energy analysts believe that the Reagan Administration, which has been receptive to big mergers, will let both deals go through.

The formation of new megapipeline companies is unlikely to have a major effect on homeowners' gas bills. The bigger companies will be able to drive harder bargains on prices with the firms that drill for gas and supply it to the pipelines, but experts doubt that consumers will see much difference in what they pay.