Execution

BP plc Group CEO Bob Dudley on Thursday said 2013 will be a “year of execution,” to build financial reserves, followed by a “year of delivery” as it prepares to deliver a portfolio of 45 major upstream projects to 2020.

U.S. steel and iron producer Nucor Corp. last week said it is taking a half-stake in some of Encana Corp.’s U.S. natural gas wells in Colorado to guard against an expected increase in U.S. gas prices.

A combination of fit-for-purpose technology with solid execution in drilling horizontal wells using hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is giving Halliburton Co. confidence that it can deliver on its “frack-of-the-future” strategic initiatives, a company executive said Monday.

In an effort to allow trading firms to automatically submit trades for confirmation regardless of execution means or proprietary data formats, IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) last week unveiled its web-enabled eConfirm, an electronic trade confirmation service for global energy and metals markets.

A unit of Williams and Redbud Energy LP announced today the execution of agreements in which Williams will provide up to 51,980 Dth/d of firm natural gas transportation service to the natural gas-fueled Redbud Energy Facility near Luther, OK. In conjunction with the agreement, Williams’ Central pipeline system said it will seek permission from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to construct a 30-inch diameter pipeline and measurement and flow control facilities to the plant. Williams said it proposes to have the new facilities in service by Dec. 15, 2002. Full operation of the 1,100 MW Redbud combined-cycle generation facility is scheduled for June 1, 2003. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. “We are very pleased to have reached this agreement with Redbud to help them utilize clean-burning, economical natural gas for their proposed state-of-the-art power generation facility near Luther. This agreement is another example of Williams’ strong commitment to the fast-growing power generation market,” said Dean Jones, vice president of customer services and rates for Williams’ Central and Texas Gas systems.

ONEOK Gas Transportation, L.L.C. (OGT), and Duke Energy NorthAmerica (DENA) reported the execution of long term agreements forOGT to supply natural gas transportation to DENA’s naturalgas-fired McClain energy facility located in Newcastle, OK. Termsof the deal were not released. OGT will provide firm transportationof gas up to 85,000 Mcf/d to the 500 MW power plant. The McClainplant is expected to become operational and begin supplyingelectricity to regional markets next summer. OGT said industrysources expect as many as 20 merchant power facilities are beingreviewed for construction in the state.

AIG Financial Products Corp. and Enron Investment Partners Co.have acquired minority stakes in TreasuryConnect, a transactionexecution system for financial products traded between corporationsand banks. Bruce Usher, co-founder and president ofTreasuryConnect, said he was “extremely pleased” with AIG’s andEnron’s investment in his company, and said that “it reflectsfavorably on our technology and its ability to improve trading andoperational efficiency.” Even though it domestically transacts morethan $6 trillion a year, the interest rate and currency swap marketis one of the last markets to migrate to the Internet because ofthe relative complexity of derivative products, and the subtletiesof the trading process, according to Usher. TreasuryConnect, withoffices in New York City and Los Angeles, offers an Internet-basedtrading platform specifically designed for financial transactionsbetween banks and corporations. It also offers direct back officelinks for straight through processing, documentation solutions,historical data, research and analytical tools to facilitatetrading. AIG Financial is a wholly-owned subsidiary of AmericanInternational Group Inc. and Enron Investment is a wholly-ownedsubsidiary of Enron Corp.

The Mid-Continent Area Power Pool (MAPP) executive committeeapproved the execution of the memorandum of understanding with theMid-America Interconnected Network (MAIN) to merge the reliabilityfunctions of the two organizations. The MAIN Board of Directorsapproved the memorandum on April 7. The goal is to have a jointregional reliability organization (RRO) in place by November. Theorganization will ensure standards compliance through auditing,planning and operating reserve requirements and will establishsanctions procedures to enforce compliance with reliabilitystandards. MAPP is an association of more than 90 electricutilities and other electric industry participants. MAIN is one of10 other regional reliability councils under the North AmericanElectric Reliability Council.

Columbia Energy Group (CEG) announced yesterday a marketingjoint venture with Metromedia Energy, Inc. (MME). The venture,called Columbia Metromedia Energy, is subject to execution of adefinitive agreement and other conditions and is expected to beoperational by the end of the first quarter of 2000. No financialterms were announced.