2004

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) has concluded.

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) Wednesday.

If a federal appeals court in Washington, DC, should decide to review and remand to FERC an order eliminating the contract term limit for matching competing bids by pipeline shippers exercising their right-of-first-refusal (ROFR) in replacing expiring contracts, Commission Chairman Pat Wood said Wednesday he hopes the court provides the agency with specific “Betty Crocker directions” on what it believes the term limit should be.

FERC granted a certificate and presidential permit last week to Tractebel’s $132 million Calypso Pipeline, the U.S. portion of an international pipeline project that would deliver gas to the Florida peninsula from a proposed LNG terminal in the Bahamas. The terminal is expected to be approved this summer by officials in the Bahamas.

Besieged Royal Dutch/Shell Group last week cut its proven oil and natural gas reserves again amid an unconfirmed report that the Department of Justice has opened an inquiry into whether the company or its executives violated any U.S. laws by failing to timely report the overbooking of reserves.

Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA) has asked FERC to identify any examples where the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) has interfered with boosting supplies of natural gas to the Northeast, at the same time a pipeline association urged legislation to streamline CZMA processes.

Enron Corp.’s plan to emerge from bankruptcy has been approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company said Wednesday in a regulatory filing. However, the SEC still needs to separately approve Enron’s pending sale of Portland General Electric (PGE), its Portland, OR-based utility.

Houston-based Reliant Resources Inc. said it intends to “vigorously” contest criminal charges alleged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of California, after the state announced plans to indict a subsidiary of Reliant Resources Inc. (RRI) for alleged price manipulation in California for two days in June 2000.

FERC has granted Kern River Gas Transmission a one-year extension of the start-up date for a small lateral that has been completed but is waiting on its customer — a planned Duke Energy North America LLP power generation plant in Nevada.