2003

El Paso Natural Gas customers scored a key victory when FERC rejected a tariff proposal that would have allowed the pipeline to credit shippers with only partial reservation charges in the event a scheduled maintenance kept it from delivering natural gas.

Unfazed by storage data showing stocks decreased by 1 Bcf during the week ending Nov. 21, the natural gas futures market shifted lower Wednesday, as a local trader-led rally was crushed by another round of bearish weather forecasts. The January contract stair-stepped lower in two distinct selling surges. When the dust had settled and the orders were counted at Nymex, the prompt month had slipped 12.5 cents to close at $4.925 on its first day in the limelight.

The last in a series of reports by Enron Corp.’s bankruptcy examiner said that even if they aren’t legally culpable, former Chairman Kenneth Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling “breached their fiduciary duties” and may be liable for repaying millions of dollars to the company.

Dynegy Inc. and Exelon Corp. have scrapped a $2.25 billion transaction under which Dynegy would have sold its Illinois Power subsidiary to Illinois-based Exelon. The announcement came after Illinois lawmakers failed to approve legislation needed to facilitate Exelon’s purchase of Illinois Power.

The fourth and final report by the court-appointed examiner of Enron Corp. concludes that even if they are not legally culpable, former Chairman Kenneth Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling “are included within a circle of responsibility for the company’s financial demise.”

Comprehensive energy legislation appears dead this year, said a Republican press aide for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee late Monday. This would be a major setback for Capitol Hill Republicans and President Bush, who has pressed for national energy legislation since he took office.

All and all, it has been a good month for PG&E Corp. and its bankrupt utility subsidiary, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. They have scored successes at the California Public Utilities Commission and in federal bankruptcy court in San Francisco. Moves by the state attorney general and a federal appeals court in San Francisco did not dampen the giant utility’s outlook as it prepared for its defining moments next month.

While there are many upstream players with access to large amounts of liquefied natural gas (LNG), many of them don’t have access to markets, and San Diego-based Sempra Energy’s vision is to provide a “gateway” to these markets through its trading/merchant energy marketing unit and two permitted LNG receiving terminal sites.

The mood on Capitol Hill last week was cautiously upbeat as the feuding tax writers made headway on the disputed items in the multi-billion dollar tax package of the broad energy bill, prompting widespread reports that a final conference vote on the legislation was likely to occur this week. By late Friday, however, Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), chairman of the conference committee, had not formally scheduled a vote.