Bets

As 2008 looms near, Sempra Energy’s multi-billion-dollar bets on expanded liquefied natural gas (LNG), interstate pipeline and storage capacity are coming closer to their initial payoffs, and CEO Donald Felsinger assured financial analysts Thursday that all the critical projects are on track. Leading the way is the $800 million, 1 Bcf/d capacity Costa Azul LNG terminal along the Pacific Coast of North Baja, about 60 miles south of the U.S. border.

Sempra Energy’s multi-billion-dollar bets on expanded liquefied natural gas (LNG), interstate pipeline and storage capacity are coming closer to payoff, and CEO Donald Felsinger assured financial analysts Thursday that all of the critical projects are on track. Leading the way is the $800 million, 1 Bcf/d capacity Costa Azul LNG terminal along the Pacific Coast of North Baja, about 60 miles south of the U.S. border.

Just days after the Bank of Montreal reported losses in the millions due to wrong-way natural gas bets, Juno Beach, FL-based FPL Group Inc. said last week that 1Q2007 earnings suffered from a net unrealized after-tax loss of $126 million associated with the mark-to-market effect of nonqualifying commodity hedges.

Just days after the Bank of Montreal reported losses in the millions due to wrong-way natural gas bets, Juno Beach, FL-based FPL Group Inc. Monday said 1Q2007 earnings suffered from a net unrealized after-tax loss of $126 million associated with the mark-to-market effect of nonqualifying commodity hedges.

Speculation was rampant Wednesday and bets were on a potential bankruptcy filing under Calpine Corp.’s eventual new top management, following the displacement of the debt-ridden company’s CEO/founder Peter Cartwright. In the aftermath, the head of the California Independent Energy Producers (IEP) Association called the latest setback for the once-highly regarded merchant power plant company both “expected and tragic.”

The CEO of the miniscule Long Beach, CA-based street lighting company aiming to buy financially crippled Edison International said last week he is establishing a joint powers arrangement among more than 200 cities and townships in the southern half of California to help make the deal economically and politically viable. However, the long shot, high-stakes gambling approach is totally contingent on the California legislature failing to pass a rescue bill for the Edison utility.