Door

FERC last Wednesday upheld its November 2003 order approving with one change a $1.7 billion settlement of California’s allegations that an El Paso Corp. pipeline drove up natural gas prices in the state by withholding capacity during the state’s energy crisis, and that it gave preferential treatment to its energy merchant affiliate during bidding on transportation capacity.

FERC on Wednesday upheld its November 2003 order approving with one change a $1.7 billion settlement of California’s allegations that an El Paso Corp. pipeline drove up natural gas prices in the state by withholding capacity during the state’s energy crisis, and that it gave preferential treatment to its energy merchant affiliate during bidding on transportation capacity.

The door is open to future equity partners, a possible transportation role and ultimately a slight delay in the start-up of San Diego-based Sempra Energy’s aggressive plans for siting two liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminals in the West and Gulf coasts by 2007, according to Sempra’s CEO Stephen Baum, responding to questions from financial analysts in a earnings conference call Thursday.

FERC met in closed session on Wednesday following its regularly scheduled open agenda meeting to discuss enforcement-related issues at the Commission, a move that Commissioners said is likely to become a regular part of the agency’s routine, as it is at FERC’s sister regulatory agencies in Washington, DC.

A 40-year-old obstacle to expanding natural gas operations offshore of Canada’s East Coast was removed last week when an arbitration panel settled a boundary dispute between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. While it’s not expected to ignite an immediate drilling rush, the settlement spelled an end to an exploration freeze in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and opened up new areas for issuing resource leases in the future.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Francisco extended the exclusivity period for PG&E’s plan of reorganization, but allowed regulators until Feb. 13 to provide the court with specific and credible evidence that they can produce a viable alternative. The court also ordered PG&E, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and the state to provide comments on Jan. 25 about whether a third party should be appointed to meet with them to try and attempt to resolve conflicts relating to PG&E’s plan.

Merchant power plant developers attempting to get a foot in thedoor in Florida were thrown out again by the state Supreme Court.The court rejected Duke Energy’s motion for rehearing of a decisionhanded down this spring that said the state’s public servicecommission had no authority to approve a 514 MW merchant plant Dukeplanned to build in New Smyrna Beach.

Merchant power plant developers attempting to get a foot in thedoor in Florida were thrown out again by the state Supreme Court.The court rejected Duke Energy’s motion for rehearing of a decisionhanded down this spring that said the state’s public servicecommission had no authority to approve a 514 MW merchant plant Dukeplanned to build in New Smyrna Beach.

Looking beyond rate freezes and charges for strandedinvestments, California regulators last Thursday opened the doorfor greater retail electric price fluctuations in a decisionallowing the state’s three major investor-owned electric utilitiesto buy and sell some of their power outside the state-mandatednonprofit power exchange (Cal-PX).