Accepted

E prime, the natural gas marketing and trading arm of Xcel Energy, said Friday it has fired or accepted the resignations of four traders in Denver for reporting false gas prices to industry newsletters that publish indexes, and has suspended two other employees pending completion of an investigation. Xcel Energy Chairman Wayne H. Brunetti signaled that e prime’s future may be in doubt in light of the traders’ questionable activities.

Nova Gas Transmission, TransCanada PipeLines’ Alberta system, has reached a one-year settlement with customers which would set a lower revenue requirement in 2003 than it collected in 2002.

Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., a subsidiary of El Paso Corp., said Tuesday that it has accepted the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) certificate authorizing construction of the Dracut Expansion project. The $35 million project will replace approximately 12 miles of existing 16-inch natural gas pipeline with a 24-inch line from Dracut to Burlington, MA, primarily using existing rights-of-way. The project will increase takeaway capacity from the Dracut interconnect by 200,000 Dth/d. Once the project is in service, the total takeaway capacity from Dracut will be more than 600,000 Dth/d. Tennessee said it expects the Dracut Expansion to be available for commercial service in the fall of this year. “The Dracut Expansion represents the next logical step in expansions from Dracut to serve the Northeast energy corridor,” said Stephen C. Beasley, Tennessee president. “Tennessee initiated the growth by completing the Eastern Express 2000 project in January 2000 and placed the Londonderry pipeline in service in September 2001. Tennessee is pleased to provide additional, reliable service by substantially increasing our capacity from Dracut with this expansion. The use of existing corridors allows Tennessee to minimize the environmental impact while delivering an economic project.”

Calgary-based Anderson Exploration Ltd. on Friday accepted the C$40 per share cash tender offer of Devon Energy Corp., based in Oklahoma City. Devon also said it had received “all necessary approvals” to acquire Anderson in a $4.6 billion deal first announced in September (see Daily GPI, Sept. 5). When the deal is completed, Devon would become the top independent oil and gas producer in North America, a post currently held by Anadarko Petroleum Corp. About 128 million of Anderson’s shares were tendered under the offer, representing 97% of the Canadian company’s total shares outstanding. Devon intends to take up the tendered shares and pay the depository on Monday (Oct. 15) and will acquire the remaining shares of Anderson by compulsory acquisition for C$40 per share in cash.

Enron Corp. said its board has accepted the resignation of Jeffrey K. Skilling, CEO and president. Kenneth L. Lay, currently chairman, will assume the additional responsibilities of president and resume his function as CEO. He has agreed to extend his employment agreement with the company through the end of 2005 to ensure a smooth transition. Skilling will continue to serve as a consultant to Enron and its board.

Houston-based Nuevo Energy Co. has accepted the resignation of Doug Foshee as chairman, president and CEO. Foshee intends to pursue other interests. With Foshee’s resignation, the board of directors appointed Isaac Arnold, an outside Nuevo director since 1990, as chairman. The board also announced that Phillip Gobe, currently Nuevo’s COO, has been appointed interim president and CEO. Nuevo has initiated a search for a new president and CEO, and Gobe will be considered as part of the search. “Phillip Gobe and the rest of Nuevo’s senior management team have the full support of our board of directors,” said Arnold.

With minor modifications and clarifications, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission accepted a settlement yesterday between the Midwest ISO, several of its transmission-owning members and the Alliance RTO.

The sponsors of Independence Pipeline and the associatedSupplyLink expansion project informed FERC on Friday that theyaccepted the mid-July decision awarding them certificates toconstruct their controversial Midwest-to-East Coast pipelineproject. The order is still subject to rehearing at the Commissionand then possibly to a court review. Combined, the two projects —SupplyLink, an upstream expansion of sponsor ANR Pipeline’sexisting system; and Independence, a 400-mile greenfield pipelinefrom Defiance, OH, to the Leidy Hub — would add about 1 Bcf/d ofwest-to-east firm transportation capacity at $803 million, servingthe growing gas needs of power generators in the east andNortheast. Partners in Independence are ANR, Williams’Transcontinental Gas Pipeline and National Fuel Gas Co.Independence and SupplyLink projects are targeted for in-service inNovember 2002.

FERC has accepted and suspended subject to refund fournegotiated parking and lending (PAL) agreements between KochGateway Pipeline and its marketing affiliate, Koch Energy Trading.In addition, the Commission has scheduled a technical conference onthe matter to explore what it called “serious concerns” raised byprotesters about Koch’s dealings with its affiliate and use of itsnegotiated rate privileges. The Commission in August 1996 grantedKoch’s negotiated rate authority.