Charged

Despite the fact that it has been awarded similar contracts, GasNatural Mexico charged last week that Mexico’s anti-trustcommission will not allow it to participate in an auction for amulti-million dollar natural gas distribution contract. Thecontract, scheduled to be awarded on June 21 by the ComisionReguladora de Energia (CRE), calls for a $100 million investment inthe heavily populated Guadalajara metropolitan area. Nearly 4million live there, and the Guadalajara contract will be one of thelargest issued by the government for natural gas distribution.

Arguments opened last week in a $7.5 billion lawsuit brought byTransAmerican Natural Gas Corp. and its founder, Jack Stanley,accusing Coastal Corp. and its founder Oscar Wyatt Jr., El PasoNatural Gas, and William Wise, CEO of parent El Paso Energy, ofvarious illegal acts aimed at financially underminingTransAmerican.

Arguments opened this week in a $7.5 billion lawsuit brought byTransAmerican Natural Gas Corp. and its founder, Jack Stanley,accusing Coastal Corp. and its founder Oscar Wyatt Jr., El PasoNatural Gas, and William Wise, CEO of parent El Paso Energy ofvarious illegal acts aimed at financially underminingTransAmerican.

FERC has accepted and suspended subject to refund four negotiatedparking and lending (PAL) agreements between Koch Gateway Pipeline andits marketing affiliate, Koch Energy Trading (see Daily GPI, Feb. 18 andFeb. 25). In addition, the Commission has scheduled a technicalconference on the matter to explore what it called “serious concerns”raised by protesters about Koch’s dealings with its affiliate and useof its negotiated rate privileges. The Commission in August 1996granted Koch’s negotiated rate authority.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission got it right, findingan access fee charged to interstate shippers by Southern CaliforniaGas was illegal-but then dropped the ball in failing to order$800,000 in refunds, the D.C. Court of Appeals said in a decisionhanded down May 22 (No. 97-1028).