2001

PanCanadian Energy Corp.’s COO David Boone, who has been the leadoff man for the company since the resignation last month of longtime CEO David Tuer, told investment analysts Tuesday he expects the Calgary-based independent to double its enterprise value within the next five years, balancing natural gas plays in Alberta, Nova Scotia and northern Montana, oil plays in the Gulf of Mexico and North Sea, and new coalbed methane (CBM) projects in Canada.

During this period of record volatility in the natural gas market, Devon Energy has made an effort to reduce its downside commodity price risk with several hedging instruments, including costless collars, price swaps and fixed price transactions that cover a substantial amount of its natural gas production. The company became the largest independent natural gas producer in North America last month with its Oct. 15 acquisition of Anderson Exploration. The deal increased its gas production to 2.2 Bcf/d.

For anyone holding Enron Corp. stock one year ago this week, things could not have seemed better. The closing price on Oct. 30, 2000 was $80.68, and the following day, Halloween, shares gained almost $2 to close at $82.06. Today at Enron, however, things look a lot spookier. And despite the plethora of information unmasked by the Houston-based company in the past two weeks, the investment community still seems anxious about any other tricks still to be revealed within the energy trading giant’s complex financial holdings.

Although FERC and California regulators have made a lot of headway in past months in their effort to relieve the imbalance between in-state and interstate pipeline capacity, Commissioner Linda Breathitt said last Wednesday that she still was somewhat unsettled by FERC’s tendency to routinely approve interstate pipe projects without giving full weight to the impact on existing shippers.

Although FERC and California regulators have made a lot of headway in past months in their effort to relieve the imbalance between in-state and interstate pipeline capacity, Commissioner Linda Breathitt said Wednesday that she still is somewhat unsettled by FERC’s tendency to routinely approve interstate pipe projects without giving full weight to the impact on existing shippers.

Buoyed by a bullish winter weather outlook released Thursday afternoon, natural gas futures erupted to the upside Friday morning as traders covered shorts and pressured the November contract to a new one-month high. Although sagging slightly at the close, the November contract had nonetheless paved its way into some very price-constructive territory, filling gaps and taking out buy-stop-loss orders en route to a 19.5-cent gain at $2.681.

In a deal that paves the way for the Chevron-Texaco merger to be completed, Royal Dutch/Shell Group signed a $3.8 billion agreement to buy out Texaco’s two oil refining and marketing joint ventures, making Shell the largest U.S. gasoline refiner with nearly a 15% market share. The sale of Texaco’s joint ventures was confirmed on the last day before the assets were due to go into a trust to allow completion of the Chevron Texaco combination, as specified by the Federal Trade Commission. The $39 billion merger also gained approval Tuesday from shareholders of both companies.

Bush administration officials, Senate energy lawmakers and major natural gas producers last week were at an impasse over when to proceed with legislation calling for the construction of a 3,600-mile pipeline from Alaska’s North Slope to the Lower 48 states.

Following up on an already busy year, Falcon Gas Storage Co. Inc. reported last week that it has teamed up with Emera Inc. to form Greyhawk Gas Storage Company LLC, a joint venture to acquire, develop, own and operate high-deliverability, multi-cycle (HDMC) natural gas storage facilities in the Northeastern United States.