Claiming

Reliant Energy Services Inc. (RES) and CenterPoint Energy Resources Corp. (CERC) have brought a complaint against Kern River Gas Transmission, claiming the pipeline’s credit requirements for Reliant’s transportation agreements are unreasonable and violate FERC’s 2005 policy statement governing pipe collateral practices.

A federal court judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the California attorney general claiming Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM), a utility subsidiary of PNM Resources, and other power sellers used manipulative practices to inflate California energy prices in 2001, PNM Resources reported last Thursday.

The California Energy Commission (CEC) Wednesday vented its frustration with FERC by claiming that federal regulators were barring access to critical safety information that was needed by the state to carry out its review of the joint federal-Port of Long Beach draft environmental impact report (EIR) on a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal in the harbor.

Claiming it doesn’t have to make any acquisitions to meet the company’s growth plan over the next five years, Sempra Energy’s COO and CEO-to-be, Don Felsinger said Tuesday in New York City that a major focus now is to bring in the first of the company’s three liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in North America on time and under budget. The Costa Azul LNG terminal along the Pacific Coast of North Baja, Mexico, alone, pencils out to $100 million in net income annually once it is operational in 2008.

Houston-based EnerSea Transport LLC, a player claiming a technological advantage in the budding compressed natural gas (CNG) oceanic transportation and storage business, announced Tuesday it was forming a strategic partnership with Tanker Pacific in the development of what EnerSea envisions as a portfolio of niche natural gas transportation and storage projects that can both complement and compete with liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Former Enron Corp. Chairman Ken Lay, claiming his indictment two weeks before the Democratic National Convention was politically motivated, last Wednesday challenged the Justice Department to respond to his call for a speedy trial by scheduling it before the November election. The challenge is contained in an op-ed piece written by Lay entitled “The Politics of My Trial” and published in The Washington Post midway through the Republican National Convention.

Former Enron Corp. Chairman Ken Lay, claiming his indictment two weeks before the Democratic National Convention was politically motivated, Wednesday challenged the Justice Department to respond to his call for a speedy trial by scheduling it before the November election. The challenge is contained in an op-ed piece written by Lay entitled “The Politics of My Trial” and published in The Washington Post midway through the Republican National Convention.

Claiming that the $3.5 billion punitive damages award to the state in a Mobile Bay royalties case was “without merit,” Exxon Mobil Corp. last week urged the Alabama Supreme Court to overturn the verdict by a lower court jury.

Claiming it is more economic reality than wishful thinking, a disparate set of energy industry stakeholders expressed optimism last week that the energy trading sector will rebound. They predicted that order will be restored and credibility will slowly return even with more legal shocks like the former Enron trader’s guilty plea to federal authorities earlier this month. Trading is too essential to the operation of the nation’s energy system, particularly electricity, a variety of industry sources in the West and the East said in interviews with NGI.