Commonplace

Although off-the-book partnerships are “very commonplace” among U.S. corporations, a leading securities analyst said that what Enron Corp. did “was mutate [them] into something that was unrecognizable.”

As natural gas shortages become almost commonplace, and pricescontinued to stay perched at the higher end, it comes as nosurprise that producers such as Chevron, Texaco and Burlington haveincreased their capital and exploratory spending programs in 2001.