Accused

Todd Geiger, the former El Paso Corp. natural gas trader accused of reporting bogus data to an energy trade publication in an attempt to manipulate gas price indexes, pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of false reporting and agreed to cooperate with the federal prosecution. In exchange for the guilty plea, one wire fraud count was dropped against him.

Natural gas producers and marketers last week called on FERC to reject a tariff proposal that they claim would allow Kern River Gas Transmission Co. to set a minimum term on available transportation capacity posted for bid when the pipeline wishes to reserve capacity for a future expansion project.

Natural gas producers and marketers called on FERC to reject a tariff proposal that they claim would allow Kern River Gas Transmission Co. to set a minimum term on available transportation capacity posted for bid when the pipeline wishes to reserve capacity for a future expansion project.

Southern California Water Co. and a Washington State public utility district (PUD) are charging that “one or possibly two” FERC commissioners may have violated the federal agency’s rules against ex parte communications by participating in a conference call with Wall Street analysts in which the commissioners apparently addressed pending challenges to power contracts entered into with power suppliers.

Southwest Gas Corp.’s plea to further push back the date for the conversion of full-requirements (FR) service on El Paso Natural Gas to contract-demand (CD) service is merely a foot-dragging ploy on the part of the local distribution company (LDC), and should be rejected by FERC outright, said a group of major natural gas producers and marketers served by the pipeline.

Southwest Gas Corp.’s plea to further push back the date for the conversion of full-requirements (FR) service on El Paso Natural Gas to contract-demand (CD) service is merely a foot-dragging maneuver on the part of the local distribution company (LDC), and should be rejected by FERC outright, said a group of major natural gas producers and marketers served by the pipeline.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has rejected a complaint in which Pan-Alberta Gas (US) Inc. (PAGUS) accused Enron-affiliated Northern Border Pipeline Co. of trying to “subvert” its rights to match competing third-party bids for pipeline capacity under the right-of-first refusal (ROFR) process.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has rejected a complaint in which Pan-Alberta Gas (US) Inc. (PAGUS) accused Enron-affiliated Northern Border Pipeline Co. of trying to “subvert” its rights to match competing third-party bids for pipeline capacity under the right-of-first refusal (ROFR) process.

Chapter 11-mired Pacific Gas and Electric Co. last week accused the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), the state’s wholesale bulk electricity buyer, of overestimating its forecast of spot power purchase costs through next year by $3.1 billion, including overestimating the price of natural gas used to generate the power supplies.