The Energy Information Administration (EIA) will discuss its plans for a new weekly natural gas storage survey as part of the GasMart/Power 2002 program exploring the wholesale gas and power markets. It will be held March 18-20 in Reno, NV, and hosted by Intelligence Press Inc.

In a special session Wednesday, March 20, EIA expert Roy Kass will outline the agency’s replacement for the American Gas Association’s storage survey, which is being discontinued in early May. The EIA’s new survey is expected to become the most critical piece of data informing the market. During the conference, attendees also will be able to visit EIA’s showcase exhibit to see and discuss the draft version of Energy Department agency’s new product and question its creators.

In other sessions at the 16th annual GasMart/Power forum key natural gas and power representatives will come together to hear about strategies in the current low energy price, high security environment, and the impact on the competitive market of the collapse of Enron, the market’s largest and most zealous supporter.

Keynoter Richard Sherrill, executive vice president and COO of Duke Energy North America, will assess the state of the wholesale natural gas and power market, offering his strategies for instilling customer confidence in the face of the wrenching market disruptions of the last few years.

Energy guru Ben Schlesinger will explore the impact of Enron’s collapse on other marketers, on rules and regulations, and on the political scene. Will Congress intervene to re-control gas and power prices? How long will energy investors shy away from major commitments? Are we in for another boom-bust price cycle?

Highlights from the 18 sessions at GasMart/Power 2002 include: Dynegy Vice President Peter Esposito and Calpine Senior Vice President Jim Macias talking about what’s ahead for power generation; Williams Energy Marketing & Trading President Bill Hobbs, TXU Vice President Jeff Shorter and Dominion Energy Senior Vice President Paul Koonce assessing the winter; and futures analyst Cynthia Kase breaking down the science of technical market analysis.

Also hear FERC’s Shelton Cannon, deputy director or the Office of Markets, Tariffs & Rates, explore RTO development and the standardization of market design and market rules. Representatives of the California Energy Commission, the Cal-ISO, the Western Power Trading Forum, Bonneville Power Administration and Southern California Gas will discuss various aspects of western gas and power markets.

Gordon Shearer of Poten Partners and TransCanada Vice President Jeff Rush will report the latest developments on the LNG and Arctic gas fronts, and Richard Sharples, president of Anadarko Energy Services Co., and Arthur L. Smith, chairman and CEO of John S. Herold Inc., will strategize on how to survive for the long haul in E&P.

Among the 30 companies with showcase displays are Duke Energy, El Paso, Reliant Energy and Williams.

The annual GasMart/Power is sponsored by Intelligence Press Inc., which publishes the real-time, daily and weekly publications, Natural Gas Intelligence, NGI’s Daily Gas Price Index, Power Market Today and NGI’s Weekly Gas Price Index. Visit https://intelligencepress.com to read the news as it’s happening.

To see the complete program, showcasing, sponsoring and advertising opportunities for GasMart/Power 2002, visit www.gasmart.com.

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