Duty

Hybrid Kinetic Motors Corp. (HK Motors) plans to begin producing light-duty natural gas/hybrid-electric passenger vehicles in Alabama in 2013, and it will have the support of the American Public Gas Association (APGA) and NGVAmerica in promoting them, the company and trade associations said Wednesday.

Hybrid Kinetic Motors Corp. (HK Motors) plans to begin producing light-duty natural gas/hybrid-electric passenger vehicles in Alabama in 2013, and it will have the support of the American Public Gas Association (APGA) and NGVAmerica in promoting them, the company and trade associations said Wednesday.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) announced Tuesday that it has turned to liquefied natural gas (LNG) to power five of its Class 8 heavy-duty trucks as part of its efforts to run most of its fleet vehicles on alternative fuels. PG&E said it was the first utility in the nation to put Kenworth T800 LNG-powered trucks in service.

Charging Houston Exploration with corporate waste and breach of its fiduciary duty to shareholders, hedge fund JANA Partners LLC, which owns 10% of the independent producer’s common stock, stepped up the pressure on the company Friday, demanding that it open three years of books and accounting records.

Williams put together a mega-deal last week that will not only pay the bills, but ensure its liquidity through this year and into the next, finalizing several cash and credit transactions that total about $3.4 billion. New credit agreements were secured giving Williams about $2 billion, but to make those deals, Williams sold or guaranteed some of its solid income-producing assets — interests in two pipeline companies, Seminole and Mid-American, for $1.2 billion; natural gas properties in Wyoming for $350 million; gas properties in the Anadarko Basin for $37.5 million; and the Cove Point liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility for $217 million. Williams also backed a secured credit agreement, which was put together by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., with “substantially all” of the assets of subsidiary Barrett Resources.

With almost $800 million in debt payments due and its cash nearly depleted, Williams put together a mega-deal that will not only pay the bills, but ensure its liquidity through several cash and credit transactions totaling about $3.4 billion. New credit agreements were secured giving Williams about $2 billion, but to make those deals, Williams sold or guaranteed some of its solid income-producing assets — interests in two pipeline companies, Seminole and Mid-American, for $1.2 billion; natural gas properties in Wyoming for $350 million; gas properties in the Anadarko Basin for $37.5 million; and the Cove Point liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility for $217 million. Williams also backed a secured credit agreement, which was put together by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., with “substantially all” of the assets of subsidiary Barrett Resources.

With the weather heating up and power alerts being declared, Monday marked another day of heavy duty political rallies and advertising blitzes in California even though this is an off year for elections as Gov. Gray Davis and Southern California Edison Co. sought to inject a grass root’s element to their separate conservation and state legislative campaigns.

With the Senate in semi-recess, a recess appointment by theWhite House to extend Chairman James J. Hoecker’s tour-of-duty atFERC by another year has been put on hold until after nextTuesday’s presidential and congressional elections.

Shell Trading unveiled its mega-energy electronic tradingplatform in London this week, offering the first heavy dutycompetition for Enron Corp.’s industry-leading EnronOnline.