Aside

Aside from tax implications of its merchant unit’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, PG&E Corp.’s CEO Robert Glynn Wednesday stressed for a Wall Street audience the substantial cash flow and shareholder value of his utility’s proposed omnibus settlement with the California Public Utilities Commission. Glynn spoke Wednesday as part of the second day of the three-day Lehman Brothers Energy/Power Conference in New York City.

FERC last Wednesday turned aside requests for rehearing filed by various California parties related to the Commission’s approval earlier this year of a settlement reached between Reliant Resources Inc. and FERC staff under which the generator agreed to pay $13.8 million for withholding electricity from the state’s market on two days in June 2000.

Higher natural gas prices aside, North American natural gas production most likely will continue its decline this year, according to some industry analysts. Even though U.S. and Canadian exploration and production (E&P) companies may raise their spending as discretionary income grows, the ramp up most likely won’t occur before the second half of the year.

Higher natural gas prices aside, North American natural gas production most likely will continue its decline this year, according to some industry analysts. Even though U.S. and Canadian exploration and production (E&P) companies may raise their spending as discretionary income grows, the ramp up most likely won’t occur before the second half of the year.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit last Thursday turned aside an emergency stay request filed by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal that would have delayed the implementation of a standard market design (SMD) in New England, which is set to go into effect this month.

Kerr-McGee Corp. has set aside more than half of its $860 million capital budget this year for exploration and development projects on- and offshore the United States, with $385 million earmarked for Gulf of Mexico deepwater projects and another $200 million for onshore.

San Francisco-based PG&E Corp. tossed aside the current financial struggles of both its regulated and merchant lines of business , announcing Thursday that it is a charter member of a new private-sector nonprofit, the California Climate Action Registry, a state-created voluntary registry for greenhouse gas emissions. All of PG&E’s businesses will report their greenhouse gas emissions associated with the generation, transmission, distribution and storage of natural gas and electricity in California.

Turning aside objections made by generators, FERC last Thursday agreed to a request made by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) that will allow the grid operator to extend its existing market design, including a hard price cap of $91.87/MWh, through the end of October as CAISO continues to work out kinks in mitigation-related software.

FERC last Wednesday turned aside several requests for rehearing of a recent move by the Commission to replace a number of reporting filings currently made by the power industry with a quarterly report detailing power sales transactions, among other things. The federal agency is hoping that this new approach to reporting will make U.S. power markets more transparent and provide a better means to detect and discourage discriminatory practices.