Doors

After two days of being in the dark, power was restored to the Washington, DC, headquarters of FERC, allowing it to reopen its doors Friday, the agency said.

FERC’s doors were closed for a second day in a row Thursday due to a power outage that has affected the North Capitol Street corridor in Washington, DC, where the agency’s headquarters is located.

Methanex Corp. said Wednesday it plans to reopen the doors next April at its now shuttered 470,000 ton/year methanol plant in Medicine Hat, AB.

The energy sector is alive and well, according to Deloitte, which Thursday opened its doors in Houston to the new Deloitte Center for Energy Solutions.

As a bipartisan group of senators worked behind closed doors Friday to shave more than $100 billion from the $900 billion-plus economic stimulus package, Capitol Hill sources expected that the bulk of the tax cuts and spending for renewable fuels production, construction of power transmission facilities and energy conservation would survive.

As a bipartisan group of senators worked behind closed doors Friday to shave more than $100 billion from the $900 billion-plus economic stimulus package, Capitol Hill sources expected that the bulk of the tax cuts and spending for renewable fuels production, construction of power transmission facilities and energy conservation would survive.

A West Virginia aluminum producer last week said it may be forced to close its doors and lay off workers if FERC does not grant it relief from a seams elimination charge adjustment (SECA).

After grazing the tip of the Yucatan Peninsula Thursday night as it entered the Gulf of Mexico, Tropical Storm Claudette’s unknown path quickly forced natural gas and oil producers on Friday to begin implementing preventative measures on their Gulf platforms, including production shut-ins and employee evacuations. One forecaster warned that Western and Central Gulf Hubs could be in trouble come Tuesday morning.

Ontario’s Independent Electricity Market Operator (IMO) successfully opened the province’s competitive electricity marketplace at midnight on May 1, and began calculating market-clearing prices every five minutes for the 239 participants. The new market, run by the IMO, has more than 200 participants, including 93 local distribution companies, 89 industrial consumers, 19 generators, 34 wholesale buyers/sellers and four transmitters.