Blow

Houston-based Enron Corp., which may be shoring up a long-range plan to sell some of its assets not related to its massive trading arm, may consider selling off its growing wind power subsidiary as soon as this year, according to Enron Wind’s managing director, Andreas Reuter.

Oil and natural gas producers were dealt a major, unexpected blow last Thursday when the Republican-controlled House voted by an overwhelming majority to block exploration off the coast of Florida and to exclude new drilling in millions of acres of national monuments.

Oil and natural gas producers were dealt a major, unexpected blow last Thursday when the Republican-controlled House voted by an overwhelming majority to block exploration off the coast of Florida and to exclude new drilling in millions of acres of national monuments.

The Alberta Energy and Utilities Board dealt a blow to Shell Canada Ltd. by rejecting an application to drill a prime target that the company wanted badly enough to invest more than two years in seeking approval. The dramatic regulatory setback has left industry executives voicing hope that it was an isolated case and confirmed that the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers has been right to target access to drilling targets as a priority issue.

Amid mild weather forecasts and on the heels of another in astring of relatively small storage withdrawals, natural gas futuresprices tumbled lower yesterday as traders continued to liquidatelong positions. The selling was seen in two distinct surges —first on the open as traders increased their activity as pricesdipped to new 3-month lows and then again shortly after the releaseof fresh storage news, when the prompt March contract free-fell 15cents lower from 2:00 to 2:05 p.m. (EST). The March contract closedat $5.146, down 13.2 cents for the session.

Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric(PG&E) suffered a major blow Wednesday when FERC deniedproposals to relax the creditworthy standards for the utility powerpurchases from third-party suppliers.

The Florida Supreme Court dealt a serious blow to thedevelopment of merchant power in the state in a 6-1 decision issuedThursday, reversing the state Public Service Commission’sauthorization for Duke Energy’s construction of a 514 MW powerplant at New Smyrna Beach.

The Florida Supreme Court dealt a serious blow to thedevelopment of merchant power in the state and proposed new gassupply lines in a 6-1 decision issued last Thursday, reversing thestate Public Service Commission’s authorization for Duke Energy’sconstruction of a $160 million, 514 MW power plant at New SmyrnaBeach. (See NGI, Aug. 24, 1998)

FERC last week dealt another blow to El Paso Natural Gas,finding that the pipeline had violated the Gas Industry StandardsBoard’s (GISB) standards pertaining to confirmation deadlines andconfirmation quantities.