Apart

Natural gas prices reflect a degree of enthusiasm that is typical for this time of year, particularly if there are hurricanes lurking in the Gulf of Mexico, but according to one market observer, once traders weigh healthy storage inventories against expected winter weather, an option strategy designed to take advantage of high levels of volatility may be the trade to make.

As its offshore energy sector grows and sets it further apart from other Canadian provinces, Nova Scotia on Wednesday released a new energy strategy that involves, among other things, establishing a Department of Energy, introducing limited competition for some electric power customers, adding a royalty trust from offshore proceeds and setting new air pollution standards. The strategy also expects “major future benefits” from using natural gas and has set a plan in motion to remove barriers that would allow the new system to operate on a firm commercial basis.

As its offshore energy sector grows and sets it further apart from other Canadian provinces, Nova Scotia last Wednesday released a new energy strategy that involves, among other things, establishing a Department of Energy, introducing limited competition for some electric power customers, adding a royalty trust from offshore proceeds and setting new air pollution standards. The strategy also expects “major future benefits” from using natural gas and has set a plan in motion to remove barriers that would allow the new system to operate on a firm commercial basis.

As regulators and lawyers pick apart the details of Enron Corp.’s undoing, a letter written by a company executive to CEO Kenneth Lay last year raises the possibility that the company may have to reduce past earnings by another $1.3 billion. The letter discloses two investment vehicles — one not previously disclosed — which could cut into earnings more than its four-year restatement in an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last November (see Daily GPI, Nov. 9, 2001).

The White House last week dodged questions about how the $33.5 billion in tax incentives and credits passed by the House of Representatives in its omnibus energy bill — more than three times the amount proposed by President Bush — would be funded.

A gas explosion tore apart TransQuebec & Maritimes (TQM)pipeline’s East Hereford, PQ, compressor station near theQuebec-New-Hampshire border last Thursday, injuring one person andcompletely destroying an instrumentation control building. The lossof gas compression at the border crossing is reducing firm gasflows by 10-20 MMcf/d into the Portland Natural Gas TransmissionSystem (PNGTS) in New England.

A House Commerce subcommittee hearing last week revealed thatlawmakers aren’t much closer to agreement on the tough,controversial issues associated with restructuring of the powerindustry than they were a year ago.

A House Commerce subcommittee hearing yesterday revealed thatlawmakers aren’t much closer to agreement on the tough,controversial issues associated with restructuring of the powerindustry than they were a year ago.