Casualty

The Alberta government stepped forward Wednesday and highlighted itself as the biggest single Canadian casualty of the natural gas price slump, with a financial statement confirming that royalties are being gutted.

PG&E Corp. managed to avoid being added to the recession’s casualty list on Tuesday as proceeds from a multi-year tax settlement pushed 4Q2008 consolidated net income to $517 million, or $1.37/share, which is more than double the $203 million, or 56 cents/share, in the same quarter of 2007.

UBS became the latest casualty of the economic crisis on Friday as the financial bank reported it is tightening its focus on its “core strengths,” cutting jobs and downsizing some businesses, while exiting others completely. The company, which was ranked by NGI as the twelfth largest North American natural gas marketer during the second quarter of this year, said it is exiting commodities trading — with the exception of precious metals — in its Fixed Income business.

UBS became the latest casualty of the economic crisis Friday as the financial bank reported it is tightening its focus on its “core strengths,” cutting jobs and downsizing some businesses, while exiting others completely. The company, which was ranked by NGI as the twelfth largest North American natural gas marketer during the second quarter of this year, said it is exiting commodities trading — with the exception of precious metals — in its Fixed Income business.

Steve Letbetter, chairman and CEO of Reliant Resources Inc. (RRI), became the latest top-level casualty of the collapse in the energy marketing industry after announcing his resignation last week. Board member Joel V. Staff, former CEO of National Oilwell Inc., has assumed Letbetter’s responsibilities until a new CEO is elected.

Steve Letbetter, chairman and CEO of Reliant Resources Inc. (RRI) resigned over the weekend, yet another casualty of the scandals and collapse of the energy marketing industry. Board member Joel V. Staff, former CEO of National Oilwell Inc., has assumed Letbetter’s responsibilities until a new CEO is elected.

It appears that a comprehensive Senate energy bill may be the latest casualty of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Nine Republican members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee have called on Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) to scale back the legislation to focus on those energy measures that enjoy bipartisan support and can be easily passed during this session.

An investor group including Berkshire Hathaway Inc., a holdingcompany primarily involved in the property and casualty insurancebusinesses, jumped into the energy sector yesterday by purchasingMidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. for over $2 billion. Overall, thetotal enterprise value of the transaction is $9 billion.