Constellation Power Source announced it will build one ofCalifornia’s first major power plants in more than a decade. TheHigh Desert Power Project, a $350 million, 750 MW power plant willbe built at the Southern California Logistics Airport in SouthernCalifornia’s Victor Valley. “The High Desert Power Projectrepresents an important step in meeting California’s criticalenergy needs,” said Constellation Power Source President Charles W.Shivery. “Leading up to this summer there was a growing gap betweenelectric generation supply and consumer demand in California whereconsumption of electricity has increased more than 22% in the pasteight years, and in-state power generation has remained nearly flatat under 4%.” Groundbreaking is expected to begin early next year,and the plant is scheduled to begin commercial operation in timefor the high electric demand season in the summer of 2003. HighDesert is the fifth merchant power plant announced this year byConstellation.

Southern Co., Alabama Municipal Electric Authority, FuelCellEnergy and Mercedes-Benz U.S. International started a field test ontheir Alabama Direct FuelCell Demonstration Project last week. Theproject, which was announced in February, will utilize FuelCellEnergy’s Direct FuelCellT stack. It will convert natural gas toelectricity that will feed the Mercedes-Benz production facilitypower distribution system in Alabama. In addition, the entire powerplant will be skid-mounted, making it easy to transport todifferent locations for additional demonstrations.

Henwood Energy Services announced its new online energy auction website, TermDesk.com, has successfully completed natural gas andelectricity auctions with companies including Texaco and San Diego Gas& Electric. The auction allows large and small energy participantsto buy and sell long term energy at competitive prices. Different thanother trading platforms, TermDesk.com emphasizes a longer termphysical transaction, the company said. “We are kind of like thee-Bay of energy,” said Mark Reed, TermDesk.com’s director of MerchantServices. Launched in July, TermDesk.com has additional auctionsscheduled throughout October and can be located on the net at www.termdesk.com.

California regulators Thursday unanimously adopted a statewidere-examination of the state’s $220 million voluntary electricitycurtailment program among large energy users, an ongoing effortthat at critical times this past summer helped state energyofficials avoid the need to impose rolling blackouts. The programallows large customers to get price breaks in return for agreeingto be curtailed a set number of hours each year. State regulatorsand utilities hope it will “to assure reliable and reasonablypriced electricity, especially in the summer of 2001,” said LorettaLynch, president of the California Public Utilities Commission(CPUC).

Schlumberger Oilfield Services has completed the first phase ofits largest 4C seismic survey ever as part of the 4Sight Program, ajoint venture with Seitel. This week, Schlumberger delivered itsfinal poststack P-wave migration, and the initial survey, conductedabout 120 miles southeast of Galveston, will cover nearly 45 blocksof West Cameron using ocean-bottom cable vessels. The convertedwave data is expected to be delivered in December, imaging beneathprevalent gas clouds with the converted waves. The new data havehigher vertical resolution with better reflection continuity andfault definition than 3-D surveys, and Schlumberger’s David Meehsaid the success so far with the equipment has created “a surge ofinterest in 4C technology.”

Chevron and Schlumberger have launched a multiyear researchproject aimed at developing improved reservoir optimizationsoftware. The two companies will jointly own developed software andintellectual property resulting from this initiative. The companiesare initially dedicating an eight-person research team for theproject. The team, based in Chevron’s San Ramon, CA, facilities,initially will do the following: research new mathematical andsoftware techniques to significantly speed reservoir simulation;improve the ability to more accurately model detailed geology andcomplex wells; increase the flexibility of the software toaccommodate new physical descriptions; and adapt to advances incomputing technologies. Any software developed by the researcheffort and identified for use by third-party organizations will becommercialized by GeoQuest, the Schlumberger operating unit thatdevelops integrated exploration and production software, as well asprovides data management solutions to the industry. “Our objectiveis to jointly develop software that advances the industry’s abilityto incorporate knowledge learned daily about the reservoir, andultimately to improve recovery rates,” said Thierry Pilenko,president of GeoQuest. Both parties also expect to employintermediate research results in their existing reservoir modelingproducts.

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