Senate Energy Committee Chairman Frank Murkowski (R-AK) saidthere will be a third mark-up session on electric competitionlegislation on June 7. About 30 amendments have been submitted formark-up so far. “We will have staff work to pare down the number ofamendments, and I will meet personally with Sen. [Jeff] Bingamanand staff to come to grips with the concerns.” Bingaman (D-NM) isranking minority member of the committee. Murkowski cited theextent of federal jurisdiction vs. state jurisdiction as the maindifference among committee members. “Secondary issues are thingslike benefit funds, renewable mandates and nucleardecommissioning…..” He urged committee members to come to termswith the idea of a comprehensive electric bill, adding “I’m notgoing to be the one who kills a comprehensive bill.”

PPL Corp. announced that its development subsidiary will bespending between $400 and $450 million to install five compact,natural gas-fired generation facilities in eastern Pennsylvaniatotaling about 900 MW of generating capacity. The five facilitiesin Lancaster and Montgomery Counties are expected to go on-line bythe summer of 2002. “These projects represent an environmentallysensitive and cost-effective approach to meeting the growing needfor electricity in the region, especially during hot, humidweather,” said William F. Hecht, PPL’s chairman. “The requests torestrict the use of electricity last summer and already this springunderscore the need for additional peaking generation of thiskind,” he said. The compact facilities, which occupy less than anacre each, “will improve the reliability of the electrical systemfor surrounding communities while minimizing environmental impactsand requiring no new transmission lines,” Hecht continued.Individual, pre-assembled generation units with capacities of about45 MW each will be used. The design represents the most efficient,state-of-the-art technology for peaking generators. They operatecleanly using natural gas and a minimum amount of water to improveefficiency and to minimize air emissions.

An almost-ready-for-prime time energy trading B2B website got aboost Wednesday by entering into a long-term licensing agreement tosecure software to power the system. Energy broker InternationalEnergy Partners LLC will use Cynet Interactive’s ADC2000 engine topower its NRGLINE.com energy trading site, set to launch in June.Initially, NRGLINE.com will provide four interactive “trading pits”that will cover every major trading area in the continental UnitedStates including Houston, Texas City, Beaumont, New Orleans,Chicago, the Midwest, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.Products will including refined petroleum, refinery feed andblendstocks, natural gas liquids and commodity petrochemicals.Soon, the company plans to expand into the natural gas and crudeoil markets through either a merger or strategic alliance.

Calpine Corp. announced plans to buy 36 F-class gas-firedturbines from Orlando, FL-based Siemens Westinghouse Power Corp.The agreement includes long-term service programs and performanceenhancements on existing equipment. Beginning in 2003, SiemensWestinghouse will deliver 18 turbines per year to Calpine through2004. When operated in a combined-cycle configuration, the 36 newturbines equate to approximately 9,800 MW of electricity generationpotential for Calpine’s development portfolio. Calpine is active in20 states and Alberta. It currently has 17,200 MW of capacity inoperation, under construction or in announced development.

Oglethorpe Power and ACES Power Marketing LLC (APM) entered intoa service agreement under which APM will provide Oglethorpe withenergy trading and related risk management services. The servicesinclude the establishment and maintenance of a trading controlenvironment, negotiation and management of credit and contracts,and management of transaction execution “as agent” for OglethorpePower. APM will use the existing Oglethorpe energy trading staffand will add additional staff. The group will utilize existingOglethorpe facilities in Atlanta, as well as the APM staff andsoftware systems at its headquarters in Indianapolis. “We have beenlooking for an alliance which will allow Oglethorpe Power to obtaina more cost-effective control environment for our energy tradingactivity,” said Mike Price, Oglethorpe COO. “This arrangementallows us to access the same quality services that APM alreadyprovides its existing customers and allows APM to expand itsgeographic presence into the Southeast.”

Westcoast Energy said it was notified earlier this month thatTRC Capital Corp. (TRC) made an unsolicited “mini-tender offer” forup to four million of Westcoast’s outstanding common shares at aper share price of C$23.50. A ‘mini-tender offer’ is an offer topurchase a limited number of shares of a company’s securities atbelow current market prices. Westcoast informed its shareholdersthe offer was not encouraged in any way and that the Canadianutility is not associated with it or with TRC. Westcoast said itdoes not approve of this practice of mini-tenders which targetsless-informed investors, and in no way recommends or endorses thetender offer. According to TRC’s May 15 offer, Westcoastshareholders who have already tendered their shares may withdrawthem before 5 p.m. (EDT) on June 9. Westcoast’s stock closed Fridayat C$24.15 on the Toronto stock exchange. The company has about 115million shares outstanding.

San Jose’s Calpine Corp. has gobbled up the development rightsto build, own and operate a 540 MW natural gas-fired electricitygenerating facility in the energy-hungry Midwest. During periods ofhigh demand, the new Fremont Energy Center in Ohio, which isscheduled to go online in mid-2003, could generate more than 700MW. Permitting is expected to be completed by late this summer andconstruction on the $340 million facility should begin this fall,said Calpine’s Katherine Potter. Calpine acquired the developmentrights from Boston-based Buckeye Energy Projects LLC, a companymanaged by William J. Martin. “The Fremont Energy Center is aflagship project with respect to our entry into the East CentralArea Reliability Council (ECAR) power market,” said Bob Alff,Calpine senior vice president. “The project is ideally located inan area of the Midwest that is experiencing growing demand forelectricity.” He said Calpine, an independent power company, wasreviewing several proposals to “toll the full output of thefacility.” Located near Toledo, Fremont Energy Center will use twoadvanced technology combustion turbines in combined-cycle with asingle steam turbine, and will operate with natural gas and anadvanced emissions control system. Calpine plans to manage allaspects of project development, including engineering and design,construction, fuel supply and power marketing. Two transmissionsystems owned and operated by First Energy and American ElectricPower will interconnect with the project.

No bumps in the road so far for HoustonStreet.com, as traders are motoring to its newest platform to buy and sell oil products. The web-based exchange has expanded its virtual garage, and now offers crude oil and refined product trading. The expansion adds to HoustonStreet’s energy markets, a cyber marketplace that has been offering trades on wholesale power and natural gas sales nationwide since last summer. In its first two days of operation, May 18 and 19, traders had already bought and sold nearly $20 million of crude and refined products across multiple hubs, products and grades. And this week’s trading was riding well, too. HoustonStreet’s Kim Salem said the 150 registered traders had been busy this week. “It’s going really well,” she said. “We’ve been pleased with business so far, and expect it to continue.” Crude oil and refined products are just the newest area of trading in HoustonStreet’s overall energy trading portfolio. The Portsmouth, NH-based company already included wholesale power and natural gas. Another new area, SpeedWay, will give users a streamlined method to trade standard electricity products through large power trading hubs. Relatively new, HoustonStreet only extended its trading coverage across the country last September (see NGI, Aug. 30, 1999).

Petroleum Place Inc. is going public. The Englewood, CO-based online marketer for the oil and gas industry last week filed notice with the Securities and Exchange Commission in an initial stock offering that would raise as much as $100 million. The company also announced it has completed its second round of financing that has raised $60 million from investors in the financial, and oil and gas industry. Net proceeds from the equity financing will be used to repay debt under its credit facilities, develop its web site and expand marketing and sales activities. No details were offered on how many shares the company plans to offer in its initial stock offering, and it also would not reveal a price range in a preliminary prospectus. These details are expected to be made in future SEC filings. It plans to seek a listing on Nasdaq under the symbol “PPLC.” Launched in 1995, Petroleum Place offers several types of online services, including an oil and gas property auction exchange based in Houston, electronic data rooms and a members-only listing site for properties available on its web site. The site contains a directory of nearly 3,000 industry service providers, a database of nearly 8,000 pieces of used equipment, more than 1,000 resumes of industry professionals, and listings for more than $1 billion of proven reserves and producing properties available for sale or trade. The company auctioned about $163 million in fiscal 1999, and says it has sold or has commitments to sell nearly $273.5 million worth of property in fiscal 2000. Its next online auction is set for June 14 through its Houston office, and other sales are scheduled nearly every other month through the end of the year. (see NGI, April 24).

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