Appear

Cash prices Monday set a pattern that few expect to be altered by much in the near term: a gradual downtrend of daily declines of about a dime or less at most points. One marketer said it was remarkable how uniform Monday’s price movement was from West to East, with virtually all markets falling nearly in lockstep close to either side of a dime.

As Enron Corp.’s bankruptcy continues to take its toll, two subcommittees of the House Financial Services panel have scheduled a joint hearing for next Wednesday to assess the effects of the company’s financial breakdown on commodity markets, as well as the reasons behind Enron’s overstated earnings, its potential mishandling of employee 401(k) pension plans, possible securities fraud and accounting irregularities.

Non-performance of Enron-related gas did not appear to be a major factor in Monday’s price rebounds that were especially strong in the West. Replacement of purchases from Enron did play a part, sources said, but it was more a big Tuesday-only production outage in the Rockies and covering of short positions that sent post-weekend prices soaring by about 20 cents or more across the board. Opal quotes saw the biggest gain by far of more than 80 cents, according to one source.

More than the California governor’s “usual suspects” appear in the list of top 20 power sellers to the state during the first five months of this year when average spot prices went from $321/MWh in January to $271/MWh in May, according to pricing information released Monday by the state Department of Water Resources (DWR). Average overall prices–spot and long term–paid by DWR went from $316/MWh in January to $243/MWh in May.

Natural Gas Vehicles (NGV) appear to be making another push into the spotlight as Westport Innovations Inc. and BC Gas Inc. reported last Thursday that their BCG eFuels Inc. joint venture has merged with Seal Beach, CA-based Pickens Fuel Corp. (PFC) to form the largest natural gas fuels provider for NGVs in North America.

Natural Gas Vehicles (NGV) appear to be making another push into the spotlight as Westport Innovations Inc. and BC Gas Inc. reported on Thursday that their BCG eFuels Inc. joint venture has merged with Seal Beach, CA-based Pickens Fuel Corp. (PFC) to form the largest natural gas fuels provider for NGVs in North America.

The trappings of a major press conference made it appear like a long-sought ending, but it was really just the beginning late Monday afternoon when California’s governor and Southern California Edison’s CEO announced a breakthrough after six weeks of talks. The “memorandum of understanding” (MOU) for the sale of Edison’s transmission system and power production to the state is contingent on state regulators and legislators swiftly completing some equally significant steps.

Affiliates of El Paso Energy, Enron, Duke Energy and Pacific Gas& Electric appear to have picked up the largest shares of the1.2 Bcf/d of available space on El Paso Natural Gas lines toSouthern California points in the latest capacity auction.

It doesn’t appear Louisiana is going to run out of power anytime soon. American Electric Power and Dow Chemical last weekannounced plans are going forward to construct a 900 MW naturalgas-fired cogeneration plant at Dow’s chemical complex inPlaquemine, LA, at the same time Calpine Corp. revealed it hasacquired the development rights from Cogentrix for the 500 MWWashington Parish Energy Center, located near Bogalusa.