Away

Tucked away in the corner of the spacious and empty Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center last Thursday night a joint federal-local port hearing on Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi’s proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal drew many community stakeholders, but only three independent citizens, none of whom objected to accelerated preliminary environmental review.

Cash prices kept falling Thursday, but by smaller amounts than the day before. Snow in northern Michigan; frost advisories in parts of the Midwest, Northeast and even the upper South; and record-setting lows reaching the teens in some cases failed to avert softness.

Turning attention away from the subject of increased domestic natural gas production and increased imports for a change, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham last week launched the Department of Energy’s (DOE) public awareness campaign to educate businesses, homeowners and consumers on ways they can cut energy bills by practicing smart energy use.

Turning attention away from the subject of increased domestic natural gas production and increased imports for a change, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham on Wednesday launched the Department of Energy’s (DOE) public awareness campaign to educate businesses, homeowners and consumers on ways they can cut energy bills by practicing smart energy use.

With new tax laws in its favor, Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) announced Wednesday it will move away from an earnings per share policy and focus instead on shareholder dividends. As part of its new policy, KMI plans to increase its quarterly dividend to 40 cents a share, or $1.60 annually, up 167% from its current 15 cents (60 cents a year).

With new tax laws in its favor, Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) announced Wednesday it will move away from an earnings per share policy and focus instead on shareholder dividends. As part of its new policy, KMI plans to increase its quarterly dividend to 40 cents a share, or $1.60 annually, up 167% from its current 15 cents (60 cents a year).

A third former Enron executive was dragged away in handcuffs by the FBI last week on charges that he was the architect of some of the more infamous energy trading schemes that were designed to manipulate the California energy market from 1999 through 2001. John M. Forney, 41, the former head of Enron’s real time power trading desk in Portland, OR, and a current employee of American Electric Power (AEP) was charged last Tuesday with wire fraud and conspiracy. He was arrested at AEP’s headquarters in Columbus, OH.

Northern Natural Gas was able to restore some compression Thursday evening at the Bushton (KS) Compressor Station in areas away from Building 3, which was damaged in an explosion and fire Tuesday morning (see Daily GPI, April 2), a spokesman said Friday. The station began accepting a portion of the normal outlet gas from an upstream Oneok processing plant and possibly would be able to handle full plant volumes again by Friday night, he said.

A solid majority of close to 100 energy leaders meeting behind closed doors in Houston Monday endorsed the proposition that a competing mixture of financial, journalistic and academic institutions and FERC should collect energy price data, while Commission Chairman Pat Wood, acknowledged that current price indexes appear to function well.