Coming

As the dust begins to settle in the second coming of Ken Lay as CEO of Houston-based Enron Corp., Lay said the company will offer some employees new stock options at strike prices beginning this week, a one-time additional grant, which would be worth up to 5% of their salaries. He also said, however, that the trading giant will cut more than half of the 900 employees in its sagging broadband unit, moving 250 to other positions and offering severance packages to the other 250.

Due to the increased natural gas demand in the country sparked by new gas-fired generation coming online, the United States is experiencing the largest wave of pipeline infrastructure expansion since the early 1960’s , according to a recent advisory from Industrial Information Resources Inc. (IIR). The consultant group said it expects 25,000 miles of gas transmission pipeline will be constructed by 2010 and an additional 13,000 miles by 2015, with estimates ranging up to 275,000 miles or more of distribution pipelines.

Due to the increased natural gas demand in the country sparked by new gas-fired generation coming online, the United States is experiencing the largest wave of pipeline infrastructure expansion since the early 1960’s , according to a recent advisory from Industrial Information Resources Inc. (IIR). The consultant group said it expects 25,000 miles of gas transmission pipeline will be constructed by 2010 and an additional 13,000 miles by 2015, with estimates ranging up to 275,000 miles or more of distribution pipelines.

Dominion earnings beat consensus Wall Street estimates by about 2 cents/share coming in at $180 million (72 cents/share), compared to $139 million (59 cents/share) for the same period in 2000. The improved performance was mainly attributed to higher gas and oil prices and the addition of the Millstone nuclear power station. Other highlights included the addition of more than 2,600 MW of new generation during the quarter, 47,000 new energy delivery customers, a 130 Bcf increase in proven gas and oil reserves to 2.95 Tcfe–resulting in a 266% reserve replacement ratio, and the divestiture of Saxon Mortgage.

Summer-like temperatures are coming a little earlier than California officials had hoped as the California Independent System Operator implemented a Stage 2 power alert and expected modest rolling blackouts for the third day in a row Wednesday, struggling with what it called extreme high temperatures throughout the region and insufficient resources. A 750-MW unit was knocked out in the San Francisco Bay area in the afternoon, further worsening the situation.

The amount of electric power generated from existing nuclear plants is likely to increase in the coming years as a result of higher capacity factors and plant uprates, according to Corbin McNeill Jr., co-CEO of Exelon Corp. But the executive also believes that there are a whole host of antiquated legislative and regulatory requirements currently facing the nuclear power industry that need to be overhauled, given the likelihood that future nuclear plants will be operating in a deregulated environment.

Is that an “I told you so” coming from the Barrett Resources board room? Yesterday, Royal Dutch/Shell raised its bid $5 a share for the Denver-based independent, and is now valuing the gas-rich company at $2.01 billion. Shell launched a hostile takeover bid in March for $55 a share, but Barrett had said the offer was too small (see Daily GPI, March 12).

Is that an “I told you so” coming from the Barrett Resources board room? On Thursday, Royal Dutch/Shell raised its bid $5 a share for the Denver-based independent, valuing the gas-rich company at $2.01 billion. Shell launched a hostile takeover bid in March for $55 a share, but Barrett had said the offer was too small (see NGI, March 12). With the new offer of $60 a share on the table, Barrett said it now will take the offer into consideration.

Buoyed by cold weather expected to continue this week and comingon the heels of modest gains late last week, natural gas futuresshuffled higher late in the session Monday as traders took backearlier losses by pressing their long exposures. The April contractreceived the biggest buying boost, finishing 4.9 cents stronger at$5.322.