Creditworthiness

Late Friday Anadarko Petroleum Corp. spoke up in defense of its creditworthiness following a ratings downgrade by Moody’s Investors Service that was prompted by the company’s potential liability for the Macondo well catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico.

Gas pipeline and storage expansions slowed considerably in 2003 in part because of customer creditworthiness issues, higher steel prices and a slow down in power generation development, according to a new report by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). EIA tallied 49 pipeline projects with 10 Bcf/d of pipeline capacity additions ($3.6 billion in investment), and nine storage projects adding 19 Bcf of working gas storage capacity in 2003.

Gas pipeline and storage expansions slowed considerably in 2003 in part because of customer creditworthiness issues, higher steel prices and a slow down in power generation development, according to a new report by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). EIA tallied 49 pipeline projects with 10 Bcf/d of pipeline capacity additions ($3.6 billion in investment), and nine storage projects adding 19 Bcf of working gas storage capacity in 2003.

Citing current uncertainty in the electric power market, Aquila Inc. and Cogentrix Energy Inc. on Friday jointly agreed to drop the planned acquisition of Cogentrix by Aquila. The companies said that currently “the transaction impractical and not in either company’s best interest.” The transaction between Aquila and the Charlotte, NC-based company was announced in April (see Power Market Today, May 1). Aquila said it did not consider the termination part of its “ongoing efforts” to sell $1 billion in non-strategic assets.

California utilities’ eroding creditworthiness is extendingbeyond the electricity sector and seeping into the naturalgas-buying parts of their business as well, according to a PacificGas and Electric Co. witness testifying Friday in the ongoing stateemergency rate hearings.