Attempting

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. said it is in the hunt to acquire some of Murphy Oil Corp.’s Canadian natural gas assets, which are estimated to be worth C$260 million ($193 million).

Attempting to perpetuate an early program of the Clinton Administration — energy performance contracting for federal facilities — Sempra Energy Solutions and a contractors’ coalition told a Senate committee hearing last Tuesday that time is running out on the 10-year-old energy-saving program that they claim has resulted in tens of millions of dollars in savings for the federal facilities.

Attempting to place at least part of the blame for the Enron fiasco at the door of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, a report and hearing by Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman’s (CT) Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs blasted the agency for “a shocking absence of regulatory vigilance.”

Attempting to shed its former identity as Reliant Energy Inc., CenterPoint Energy Inc. unveiled its first earnings statement as a new holding company, reporting third quarter earnings down 12% compared with the same period a year ago. However, CenterPoint management said going forward, things look better, and they increased year-over-year earnings guidance Ito a range of $1.30 to $1.35, up from a previous forecast of $1.17 to $1.22 per diluted share.

Main Street AC Inc., which has been attempting to acquire up to 4.9% of the outstanding common stock of Aquila Inc., Dynegy Inc., Mirant Corp. and Reliant Resources Inc. (RRI) since August, has extended its tender offer through midnight Oct. 15. As of last Friday, Main Street said it now holds 3.5 million shares of Dynegy; 2.2 million shares of Mirant; 1.2 million shares of RRI and 0.9 million shares of Aquila.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) is attempting to post warning signs to help prevent the gas industry from entering what might be considered the Bermuda Triangle of weekly gas storage levels. Ever since the EIA took over the weekly storage survey from the American Gas Association (AGA) in May, the industry has been lost in a sea of revisions, struggling to find its way through weekly changes that have strayed so far from the historical norm.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) is attempting to post warning signs to help prevent the gas industry from entering what might be considered the Bermuda Triangle of weekly gas storage levels. There could be changes in EIA’s revisions policy, including using more months of actual data from its monthly national storage survey to come up with a better estimation ratio (see EIA’s recent request for comments in the Federal Register on July 11).

Capitol Hill investigators are turning the heat up on former Enron Chairman Kenneth L. Lay, attempting to get him to appear before their committees to explain the Enron meltdown in what is fast becoming an election year political circus.

Attempting to distance itself from other California utility companies, executives with San Diego-based Sempra Energy, which owns the state’s third largest utility, instead zeroed in Thursday on its 8-10% expected growth, and explained to analysts how they hope to derive more than half of the company’s total income from business units outside the state — with a special focus on Northern Mexico — by 2004. Included in its plans for Mexico is a $500 million LNG terminal it expects to build with CMS Energy in Baja California.