Doug

El Paso Corp.’s push to secure approval for its proposed Ruby Pipeline, which would carry natural gas supplies from the Rocky Mountains to West Coast markets, appears to be coming at an opportune time environmentally, and in certain respects, politically.

The global financial tsunami is something the energy industry will steer itself through, El Paso Corp. CEO Doug Foshee said Thursday, noting that the current crisis summons memories of the one precipitated in the energy industry by Enron Corp.’s 2001 bankruptcy.

The global financial tsunami is something the energy industry will steer itself through, El Paso Corp. CEO Doug Foshee said Thursday, noting that the current crisis summons memories of the one precipitated in the energy industry by Enron Corp.’s 2001 bankruptcy.

El Paso Corp. restructured and expanded its hedging program that supports its 2007 gas production, and CEO Doug Foshee expressed optimism about the company’s 2007 outlook.

With its restructuring essentially completed and earnings on the rise, El Paso Corp. is keeping its eye on possible acquisitions, CEO Doug Foshee said Thursday. The deals, he said, could range from “small” $5 million tactical add-ons for its exploration and production (E&P) business to properties “in excess of $1 billion.”

El Paso Corp.’s two-year corporate turnaround is now complete, and 2006 “will cap our return as one of North America’s premier natural gas companies,” CEO Doug Foshee said Wednesday. The company, whose Gulf of Mexico pipelines and platforms were hard hit by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, also expects to have nearly all of its operated production restored in the second quarter.

Doug Krenz, vice president of transportation for Enbridge, was misidentified as an Enterprise Products Partners executive in an article that ran in NGI’s Daily Gas Price Index on Oct. 13 (see Daily GPI, Oct. 13). NGI regrets the mistake and will run a corrected and updated version of the story in Natural Gas Intelligence, the weekly newsletter.

El Paso Corp. CEO Doug Foshee said Tuesday the company is close to completing a massive restructuring program that has whittled away 18 operating divisions, cut its work force by more than 9,000, reduced debt by nearly $5 billion and sold $5.7 billion in assets over the last couple years. He said El Paso’s two remaining divisions, pipelines and exploration and production (E&P), are well positioned for growth, given strong gas demand, high commodity prices and some internal strategic changes.

El Paso Corp. CEO Doug Foshee, addressing concerns highlighted at last month’s annual meeting, admitted Thursday in a lengthy letter to shareholders that the financial restatements by the company this year are unacceptable. But Foshee said he would “not offer the cold comfort of an excuse.” Instead, he highlighted improvements over the past year, and said the board “wanted to provide the best assurance we can that this situation will not occur again, and to ensure that El Paso will continue on its road to recovery.”