Disclosures

As the California legislature returned from its month-long recess Monday, the backers of a bill (AB 591) to mandate chemical disclosures on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) fluid held a press conference at the state Capitol in Sacramento, releasing the signatures of “roughly 50,000” voters supporting the measure.

BP plc said it would delay the release of its 3Q2010 earnings by one week to Nov. 2 to give it more time to prepare additional data and disclosures related to the April Macondo well explosion. For 2Q2010 BP posted a $17 billion replacement cost loss, which included a $32.2 billion provision for costs related to the massive oil spill (see Daily GPI, July 28). BP also has been evicted from the FTSE4Good ethical investment index because of the oil spill. BP earlier this year was excluded from the DJ Sustainability Index.

Disclosures by energy companies that employees filed bogus prices for natural gas with trade newsletters which compile price indices, as well as an unfavorable ruling against El Paso Natural Gas by a FERC judge last month, lend support to FERC staff’s proposal to toss out the spot gas price indices when it comes to computing the gas price component of potential refunds owed by California electricity generators, according to California regulators, the state’s Attorney General and a number of other parties.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a formal order last week initiating a fact-finding investigation into possible manipulation of short-term prices for natural gas and electricity in West Coast markets. The agency’s action was sparked by the Enron Corp. financial debacle, Chairman Pat Wood said, and was a follow-up to his pledge before a congressional committee more than two weeks ago (see NGI, Feb. 4).