Conduct

Bay Gas Storage Company Ltd. said it will conduct an open season to assess interest in the expansion of its natural gas storage facilities located near Mobile, AL. The company said the open season, which began last week, will run until Jan. 17.

Bay Gas Storage Company Ltd. said Tuesday it will conduct an open season to assess interest in the expansion of its natural gas storage facilities located near Mobile, AL. The company said the open season, which began Tuesday, will run until Jan. 17.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman W.J. “Billy” Tauzin (R-LA) has called on the Department of Energy (DOE) to conduct an expedited review of ways to upgrade the current method for reporting prices on natural gas trades to energy trade newsletters, and explore the accuracy and transparency of available supply, demand, pipeline and production information and prices in order to instill greater confidence in domestic gas markets.

NRG Energy Inc. said that it intends to continue to conduct business as usual despite the recent filing of an involuntary Chapter 11 petition against the company by five former NRG executives. The Xcel Energy unit also said the filing of the involuntary petition does not put the company into bankruptcy, nor is the company subject to restrictions imposed on debtors under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

Upon urgings from its staff, the Georgia Public Service Commission (GPSC) voted unanimously on Tuesday to establish a schedule of hearings regarding an earnings review for Atlanta Gas Light Co. (AGLC), which the Commission staff said is earning between 4% and 7% more than its authorized return on equity (ROE).

A group representing 32 industrial customers in the Pacific Northwest has asked FERC to conduct a more thorough analysis of Northwest Natural Gas Co.’s planned acquisition of Enron affiliate Portland General Electric (PGE). The group charges that the deal could reduce competition in the region’s natural gas transportation and power markets. Northwest Natural and Enron agreed to the $1.8 billion cash and stock transaction in October two months before Enron declared bankruptcy (see Power Market Today, Oct. 9).

President George W. Bush put an end to a lot of anticipation at FERC last Tuesday when he announced his plans to nominate Texas regulator Patrick H. Wood III and Pennsylvania regulator Nora M. Brownell for the two vacant commissioner spots on the Commission. But the president was mum on whether Wood would replace current FERC Chairman Curt Hebert Jr.

El Paso said it would complete cleaning of Line 1103 on itsSouth Mainline Friday, and will conduct its smart pigging projecttoday, Wednesday and Thursday. The reduction in capacity fromKeystone Station to Pecos River Station will be only 100 MMcf/dtoday, but will rise Wednesday and Thursday to the previouslyannounced 335 MMcf/d (see Daily GPI, March 15). Maintenance atCornudas B and Hueco will continue during this time, El Paso said,causing varying day-by-day allocations in Pecos and Waha Westcapacity. See the bulletin board for details.

Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) yesterday called on FERC to conduct astudy into why there is such a huge differential between prices fornatural gas in the supply basin and prices for the gas delivered tothe Southern California border.