Bitter

Bitter rivals IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) and the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) had a public spat last week over a judge’s decision in their legal dispute over ICE’s use of Nymex settlement prices in ICE over-the-counter (OTC) contracts.

In an attempt to short-circuit a bitter proxy battle by disgruntled investors, El Paso Corp. on Monday nominated a slate of directors that is heavy in energy experience for shareholders to vote on at the company’s upcoming annual meeting in June.

Putting to rest a long-running bitter feud, Southwest Gas has agreed to pay Southern Union $17.5 million to settle claims of fraud and bad faith breach of contract related to Southern Union’s attempts to purchase Southwest.

Putting to rest a long-running bitter feud, Southwest Gas has agreed to pay Southern Union $17.5 million to settle claims of fraud and bad faith breach of contract related to Southern Union’s attempts to purchase Southwest. Following on the mid-week announcement by the two companies, Oneok Inc. said Friday it had agreed to pay $3 million to Southwest Gas in settlement of other litigation related to the three-way wrangle.

Two U.S. senators have offered a bill that they hope will put an end to the bitter dispute over offshore drilling between the state of California and oil and natural gas producers who hold the remaining 40 leases off the state’s coast.

Over bitter opposition from ANR Pipeline, the Federal EnergyRegulatory Commission issued a certificate to the 149-mile Guardianpipeline project yesterday, giving the upper Midwest another majorgas transporter.

Over bitter opposition from ANR Pipeline, the Federal EnergyRegulatory Commission issued a certificate to the 149-mile Guardianpipeline project, giving the upper Midwest another major gastransporter.

Georgia regulators have become bitter following the thirdsettlement of a slamming case involving a retail gas marketer andthe second retail marketer bankruptcy. Simmering tempers havereached the boiling point with some public service commissionersconcluding the deregulation process has been a total failure.Others remain hopeful that the many lessons learned in the processwill help the PSC proceed with electric deregulation when itbecomes the next order of business.

The bitter cold that cut through the Northeast last week,triggering record gas demand on distribution systems owned by SouthJersey Gas, KeySpan, Berkshire Gas, and Baltimore Gas and Electric,didn’t spare Con Edison of New York. The company said the severecold snap was responsible for record-setting gas usage as well asthe total amount of gas transported through its gas transmissionand distribution system.