Committed

Stone Energy Corp. has committed $50 million to cover its share of costs and drilling commitments in a joint venture with Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Corp., which was announced Tuesday. Stone and the Kerr-McGee Corp. subsidiary signed exploration agreements covering interests in 30 leases held by Kerr-McGee in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).

As demand for natural gas and power grows, TransCanada Corp. intends to connect new sources of supply to meet growing demand, and will hold to its commitment to play a leading role in developing the proposed Alaska Highway Pipeline and Mackenzie Gas Pipeline Project, the CEO said last week.

Enron Corp. remains committed to spinning off three businesses once it emerges from bankruptcy, according to an updated court filing Thursday. CrossCountry Energy would hold Enron’s North American pipelines, Prisma Energy International would consist of 18 foreign assets and Portland General Electric (PGE) would be a stand-alone utility. However, the restructuring CEO noted that Enron reserves the right to sell any of its businesses until the initial distribution of stock.

The Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA) on Monday reported to federal regulators that it has received letters from over 30 power suppliers that sit on EPSA’s board certifying that they have put in place polices and procedures designed to assure their compliance with EPSA’s recently adopted code of ethics for suppliers.

CenterPoint Energy Inc. (formerly Reliant Energy) is committed to reducing its debt and becoming more financially flexible. However, the credit ratings downgrade by Moody’s Investors Services to “junk” status points out the numerous financial problems still ahead for the Houston-based utility.

There is no evidence that Nicor Inc. affiliate Nicor Gas committed criminal fraud in carrying out its performance-based rate (PBR) program for Illinois gas customers, but the local distribution company (LDC) did overcharge its customers by an estimated $15 million over the past couple of years, according to the results of an independent report commissioned by a special committee that was named by the company’s board of directors.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp., committed to spending US$270 million on Canadian E&P this year, announced early success Monday in its winter drilling program in northeastern British Columbia and northern Alberta, with three natural gas discoveries and several successful oil field development projects.

BP has committed all of its future gas production from the Southern Green Canyon area of the central Gulf of Mexico, including the Holstein, Mad Dog and Atlantis deepwater developments, to the Manta Ray Offshore Gathering and Nautilus Pipeline systems and the Neptune gas processing facilities. Enterprise Products Partners LP, Shell Gas Transmission and Marathon Oil own and operate the transportation and processing faculties and have signed a long-term deal with BP for various midstream services.

BP has committed all of its future gas production from the Southern Green Canyon area of the central Gulf of Mexico, including the Holstein, Mad Dog and Atlantis deepwater developments, to the Manta Ray Offshore Gathering and Nautilus Pipeline systems and the Neptune gas processing facilities. Enterprise Products Partners LP, Shell Gas Transmission and Marathon Oil own and operate the transportation and processing faculties and have signed a long-term deal with BP for various midstream services.