Asking

Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) is asking Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber to consider a proposal that would result in the state purchasing Portland General Electric from Enron. In a letter sent to Kitzhaber at the end of last week, DeFazio also proposes that Oregon issue bonds to purchase Portland General’s transmission assets.

Producers are jumping the gun by asking FERC to step in and decide the “merits” of a controversial complaint that seeks to overhaul the capacity-allocation and scheduling procedures on El Paso Natural Gas, contend East-of-California (EOC) shippers on El Paso.

How low can you go? Some traders likely were asking themselvesthat very question Wednesday afternoon after seeing cash pricescrater by about 20 cents or more at nearly all points that morningand then watching the screen go into a swoon immediately after theAGA storage report, which means the cash market is expected toregister big losses again today.

Energy E-Comm.com last week issued a revised draft of a petitionasking FERC to initiate a notice of inquiry (NOI) into the effectsof e-commerce on the regulated natural gas and power industries.The e-commerce-based company has posted it to its web site soenergy companies can comment further on the petition before it’sformally filed at the Commission by the end of the month.

Energy E-Comm.com has issued a revised draft of a petitionasking FERC to initiate a notice of inquiry (NOI) into the effectsof e-commerce on the regulated natural gas and power industries.The e-commerce-based company has posted it to its Web site soenergy companies can comment further on the petition before it’sformally filed at the Commission later this month.

FERC staff has begun sending out letters to pipelines askingthem to explain how their proposed projects will square with thenew policy statement that favors incremental pricing. NorthernBorder Pipeline Co. — the first pipe to receive such a letter —made clear its disdain for the pricing policy in its response.

FERC staff has begun sending out letters to pipelines askingthem to explain how their proposed projects will square with thenew policy statement that favors incremental pricing. NorthernBorder Pipeline Co. – the first pipe to receive a letter – madeclear its disdain for the pricing policy in its response last week.

The Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline (M&NE) started anopen season yesterday asking for capacity requests from buyersintent on using M&NE’s interconnect with Algonquin’s proposedHubLine project at Salem, MA. Requests will be received throughSept. 30. Maritimes’ Canadian affiliate, Maritimes & NortheastPipeline Limited Partnership, will contemporaneously conduct anopen season for its pipeline in Canada, the company said.

Can you trust a marketer with all of your regulated assets? It’sa question many LDCs are asking themselves these days asderergulation and competition are stranding more and more supplycontracts, upstream transportation and storage. But there’s no easyanswer, according to several panelists speaking at GasMart/Power’99 in Dallas yesterday.