Ballyhooed

TransCanada Corp. CEO Hal Kvisle said Friday he didn’t want to sound pessimistic about the reserves potential of the ballyhooed North American natural gas shales. “But in the grand scheme of things,” he said, “they’re just one more source of supply.”

An oil and gas discovery in the Lower Tertiary trend of the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) may be as good — or better — than the ballyhooed deepwater Jack prospect, Chevron Corp. said Thursday.

The ballyhooed Bakken Shale has taken on renewed interest for its oil reserves as prices continue to climb, but it also holds a considerable amount of natural gas, which has drawn the attention by a growing number of prospectors.

Along with the much ballyhooed public offering by Nymex Holdings Inc. on Friday (see related story), utilities giant Constellation Energy Group Inc. (CEG) spun off its U.S.-based exploration and production (E&P) partnership last week to modest success. Tightly held midstream operator Targa Resources Inc. also announced plans for an offering next year of its considerable processing assets in North Texas.

The much ballyhooed power generation race in Florida finally gotunderway last Monday as the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC)unanimously approved the first independent power combined cyclefacility under the Florida Power Plant Siting Act. The approvedapplication for a 529 MW facility was submitted by Calpine Corp.and Seminole Electric Cooperative.

The much ballyhooed electricity plant construction race inFlorida finally got underway on Monday as the Florida PublicService Commission (PSC) unanimously approved the first independentpower combined cycle facility under the Florida Power Plant SitingAct. The approved application for a 529 MW facility was submittedby Calpine Corp. and Seminole Electric Cooperative.