Assist

Williams announced that CFO Jack McCarthy, 59, will retire at the end of the year. McCarthy will provide the company with consulting services to assist in the transition of a few critical areas. He served the past 10 of his 16 years with Williams in the CFO position. “Jack has made significant contributions to the company during his tenure and we wish him well in his retirement,” said CEO Steve Malcolm. “We are taking steps to ensure a smooth transition of this important role in our company.” Williams expects in the first quarter to name its new CFO. The company’s selection process will identify and evaluate candidates both within Williams and outside the company. The company’s controller and chief accounting officer, Gary Belitz, will be the interim successor to McCarthy.

In an effort to assist the Northwest meet its needs during the current energy shortage out West, the Bonneville Power Administration plans to establish a short-term policy that will encourage the immediate addition of electricity generation to help the region until planned long-term generation can be built. While the BPA will not fund construction of the generators nor buy the output, BPA said that the policy complements the load reduction strategy it has with its customers. In addition, BPA noted that customers who reduce their load on BPA by 10% would be allowed to use temporary small generators to supply a small portion of their needs. The agency has asked its customers to reduce their demands on BPA so that it can avoid expensive large power purchases in the wholesale market. Such purchases could lead to a triple-digit wholesale rate increase this October, according to BPA (see Daily GPI, April 11). The temporary policy would run from June 1, 2001 through Sept. 30, 2002. But the BPA said that before it implements the policy next month, it wants to hear from the public on the details of the plan. A public meeting on BPA’s proposed policy is scheduled for May 24 at BPA headquarters in Portland, OR.

Texas’ severance tax on oil and gas would be set on a sliding scale to assist industry during less profitable times, under a bill passed this week in the Texas Senate. Sen. Teel Bivins (R-Amarillo) said the legislation (SB 344) would create a sliding tax scale to allow industry to pay as little as 1% in taxes.

In a move that appeared to appease the country’s ailingindustrial sector, the Mexican government agreed last week to sellnatural gas to domestic industry at a fixed price of $4/MMBtu forthe next three years. Steelmaker Hylsamex, among others, which hadtemporarily shut down facilities and laid off workers because ofhigh natural gas prices, said it would soon restart one of fouriron plants.

Penn Virginia Corp., headquartered in Radnor, PA, has retainedWaterous & Co. to assist with the potential sale of a portionof the company’s Appalachia oil and gas properties. The properties,with an estimated 70 Bcfe of proved reserves are 97% natural gas.Current net production from the properties is 7 MMcf/d. A data roomto review detailed property information is expected to open inHouston later this month. More information is available atwww.waterous.com.

To assist in the growing demand for electricity in the upperMidwest, Southern Energy Inc. plans to begin construction thismonth of a natural gas-fired plant in Zeeland, MI that will useadvanced natural gas combined-cycle technology and state-of-the-artemission control equipment. Commercial operations are expected tobegin in June 2001, with an initial 300 MW of capacity. Anadditional 530 MW will begin commercial operation by June 2003.

Crystal Gas Storage Inc. of Shreveport, LA, is reviewing itsoptions, including the possible sale of the company. Theindependent gas storage company hired Goldman, Sachs & Co. toassist with the strategic review and said no transactions arepending. The company said there would be no more announcementsunless and until a deal comes about or the effort is scrapped.Crystal Gas Storage owns and operates, through wholly ownedsubsidiaries, two storage facilities near Hattiesburg, MS, andholds various interests in gas properties, primarily in Arkansasand Louisiana.

Prosper Business Development Corp. of Columbus, OH, formed adivision to assist energy companies in dealing with marketingchallenges of deregulation. Prosper NRG Marketing offers a varietyof turnkey products designed to enhance marketing efforts to thecommercial and residential segments of the energy market. Theproducts can be used to sell energy without a direct sales force.