2004

Net income for 20 top independent oil and natural gas producers rose 89% in the fourth quarter of last year over the same period in 2002, and skyrocketed 397% for all of 2003 due to robust U.S. oil and gas prices, according to a report issued by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) Friday.

Royal Dutch/Shell Group’s former CEO of exploration and production (E&P) stated this week that he had uncovered the company’s reserves discrepancies after he took over the business unit and had repeatedly warned top management of the problems before they were publicly disclosed in January (see Daily GPI, Jan. 12).

Reliant Resources Inc. subsidiary Reliant Energy Services Inc. and four trading executives were indicted Thursday on charges that they artificially drove up power prices in California by withholding generation capacity from the market during a two-day period in June 2000. Reliant is the first company to face criminal charges for its role in the state’s power crisis.

Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski last week signed into law a bill that appropriates $1.65 million for the state’s Department of Revenue for costs associated with bringing North Slope natural gas to market.

Because some of its oil and natural gas sales were delayed in overseas operations, Murphy Oil Corp. said Monday that its first quarter net income will be lower, averaging between 90 cents and $1.10 per share.

Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp. and the utility’s reliability coordinator, the East Central Area Reliability Council (ECAR), failed to assess and understand the inadequacies of FirstEnergy’s system, particularly with respect to voltage instability and the vulnerability of the Cleveland-Akron area, and FirstEnergy did not operate its system with appropriate voltage criteria, a final report issued last week by a joint U.S.-Canada task force examining the historic Aug. 14, 2003 blackout concludes.

San Jose, CA-based Calpine Corp., which represents one of the largest natural gas appetites in North America for its sizable fleet of gas-fired electric generating plants, confirmed Thursday it is in preliminary talks with Alaska Gasline Port Authority (AGPA) about possibly becoming a prime potential customer for Alaska’s estimated 6 Bcf/d North Slope supplies.

New England power generators did not break any rules by selling natural gas to local gas utilities rather than using it to produce power during a cold snap in January, FERC’s Office of Market Oversight and Investigations (OMOI) concluded last week.

FERC “in all likelihood” will hold a technical conference to discuss the results of the surveys on the price-reporting activity of energy companies and the Commission’s interpretation of the results, as well as ask industry to identify the next liquidity issue that the agency should address, said the head of FERC’s Office of Market Oversight and Investigations (OMOI) last Wednesday.