Advising

With the final report of the National Commission on the BP Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling due in just a few weeks, co-chair William K. Reilly is advising oil and gas industry CEOs to create an autonomous, industry-managed safety institute, as the nuclear power industry did with the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) following the Three Mile Island accident in 1979.

With the final report of the National Commission on the BP Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling due in just a few weeks, co-chair William K. Reilly is advising industry CEOs to create an autonomous, industry-managed safety institute, as the nuclear power industry did with the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) following the Three Mile Island accident in 1979.

Speculation surrounding the United States Natural Gas Fund’s (UNG) impact on the natural gas futures market has reached a fever pitch, and now some analysts are advising investors that the commodity exchange-traded fund (ETF) is not even a good investment. According to a new Raymond James & Associates report, investors are “better off” investing in gas-weighted exploration and production (E&P) companies than in UNG.

Speculation surrounding the United States Natural Gas Fund’s (UNG) impact on the natural gas futures market has reached a fever pitch, and now some analysts are advising investors that the commodity exchange-traded fund (ETF) is not even a good investment. According to a new Raymond James & Associates report, investors are “better off” investing in gas-weighted exploration and production (E&P) companies than in UNG.

Arthur Andersen LLP has agreed to pay $16 million to Enron Corp. creditors to resolve claims that the accounting firm was negligent in auditing and advising the former energy trader. A hearing on the proposed settlement is scheduled for May 14 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (In re Enron Creditors Recovery Corp., 01-16034). If approved, the settlement would end a lawsuit filed in Houston by Enron’s creditors that accused the once esteemed accounting firm of approving transactions that manipulated Enron’s finances for the benefit of certain executives. Formerly Enron’s outside auditor, Arthur Andersen was convicted by a federal jury in 2002 of obstructing an investigation into Enron’s demise (see Daily GPI, Oct. 17, 2002). The U.S. Supreme Court overturned that verdict in 2005 (see Daily GPI, June 1, 2005) To date Enron creditors have recovered more than $22 billion, or about 50 cents on the dollar.

Recalling its notice earlier this month advising shippers that working storage inventory levels were significantly above levels for a comparable period last year and there was a distinct possibility of running out of available capacity by mid-summer (see Daily GPI, May 12), Southern Natural Gas said Wednesday it was implementing immediately the restrictions on certain storage transactions that the notice had said might be required to preserve firm storage obligations and interruptible storage quantities that already had been accepted. See the bulletin board for details of the restrictions now in effect on interruptible storage nominations. The pipeline emphasized that “firm storage transactions are NOT being restricted.”

Algonquin joined upstream affiliate Texas Eastern in advising customers that due-shipper imbalance gas will not be available until further notice (see Daily GPI, Nov. 27). However, unlike Texas Eastern’s restriction on interruptible deliveries, Algonquin said Wednesday it “is not issuing any system restrictions at this time.”

An assertion by a former UBS PaineWebber broker that he had been fired for advising clients to sell their Enron Corp. shares in August 2001 was verified Wednesday by Congressional investigators, who released a series of e-mail messages between the brokerage and the company. Broker Chung Wu, formerly in PaineWebber’s Houston office, said he suspected his dismissal followed pressure from Enron after he sent a message to clients early on Aug. 21 warning that Enron’s “financial situation is deteriorating” and that they should “take some money off the table.”

While various market participants and analysts are advising astepped up construction schedule for new power plants, oneCalifornia community may be getting the message.