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It’s not easy for marketers to make anyone happy these days. Producer customers in particular can be especially temperamental. But a new survey by Mastio & Co. shows that some marketers have been particularly good at retaining and satisfying customers even in these difficult times.

It’s not easy for marketers to make anyone happy these days. Producer customers in particular can be especially temperamental. Executives at Apache Corp. probably would rather roast a marketer over an open fire than invite him over to do business (see Daily GPI, Aug. 19, April 25). But a new survey by Mastio & Co. shows that some marketers have been particularly good at retaining and satisfying customers even in these difficult times.

Dynegy Inc. Chairman Chuck Watson, who may know as much as anyone about the Enron Corp. fiasco, told a Houston group Thursday that his former rival’s downfall should not become an “indictment” of energy trading. In a speech to the Houston Forum, Watson laid the blame for Enron’s troubles on the company’s dubious accounting practices and nothing else.

Dynegy Inc. Chairman Chuck Watson, who may know as much as anyone about the Enron Corp. fiasco, told a Houston group Thursday that his former rival’s downfall should not become an “indictment” of energy trading. In a speech to the Houston Forum, Watson laid the blame for Enron’s troubles on the company’s dubious accounting practices and nothing else.

For anyone holding Enron Corp. stock one year ago this week, things could not have seemed better. The closing price on Oct. 30, 2000 was $80.68, and the following day, Halloween, shares gained almost $2 to close at $82.06. Today at Enron, however, things look a lot spookier. And despite the plethora of information unmasked by the Houston-based company in the past two weeks, the investment community still seems anxious about any other tricks still to be revealed within the energy trading giant’s complex financial holdings.

For anyone holding Enron Corp. stock one year ago this week, things could not have seemed better. The closing price on Oct. 30, 2000 was $80.68, and the following day, Halloween, shares gained almost $2 to close at $82.06. Today at Enron, however, things look a lot spookier. And despite the plethora of information unmasked by the Houston-based company in the past two weeks, the investment community still seems anxious about any other tricks still to be revealed within the energy trading giant’s complex financial holdings.

In an attempt to dissuade anyone from the notion that power markets are going to become over-built any time soon, Calpine Corp. held the second of a series of three conference calls last week with the financial community, reinforcing that it is not backing off its goal of having 70,000 MW of new capacity on line by the end of 2005, and growth in its $1.4 billion natural gas holdings will increase along with the new plants.

It failed to shock anyone when June-ending prices fell fairly hard at nearly all points. Virtually all traders did Thursday deals for flow through Saturday, eliminating the hassles of split nomination periods over a June/July bridging weekend.

In case anyone missed the lessons of new pipeline construction,hot regulatory fights and negotiating marathons, some newdescriptions for the state of Canadian natural gas transportationhave been coined at the National Energy Board.