Expressed

Two House lawmakers who voted against the omnibus energy bill have expressed concern that the Department of Energy (DOE) may be illegally using department appropriations to carry out a “coordinated grassroots lobbying effort” to cinch passage of the measure when the Senate returns in late January.

Jimmy Glotfelty, a top official with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), last week expressed confidence that a joint U.S.-Canadian task force investigation into the historic Aug. 14 blackout that cut across portions of both countries will be able to pinpoint the cause or causes of the massive series of power outages.

Several western energy suppliers — Reliant Energy Services Inc., El Paso Merchant Energy LP and Portland General Electric — are urging FERC to limit the scope of the agency’s planned public release of confidential information relating to the ongoing California market manipulation cases at the agency.

Responding to interest expressed in firm deliveries from CIG to the new Cheyenne Plains system (see Daily GPI, Dec. 11, 2002), CIG is holding a binding open season through March 20 to solicit new firm compression agreements. Such agreements are required to support additional compression in the Cheyenne, WY area that would allow volumes to be delivered from the lower-pressure CIG system into Cheyenne Plains or other high-pressure systems near Cheyenne. It is anticipated that the new compression would be in service by August 2005, which is the anticipated in-service date of the Cheyenne Plains system. See the bulletin board for details, or call Greg Ruben at (719) 520-4870 for more information.

The Nova Scotia government has expressed fears that growth of Canada’s embryo East Coast gas industry will be stunted by any interference with exports. EnCana Corp. also has told the National Energy Board (NEB) that it needs unfettered access to markets in the northeastern United States in order to go ahead on its first addition to East Coast supplies beyond the Sable Offshore Energy Project (SOEP), the C$1.1 billion (US$733 million), 400 MMcf/d Deep Panuke proposal.

CornerStone Propane Partners LP is waiting for a buyer and several have expressed interest, but the company also is formulating a fall-back plan in case a sale or merger doesn’t materialize. The company said last week that it has shut down its wholesale natural gas marketing operations, which were conducted by Coast Energy Group (CEG).

CornerStone Propane Partners LP said a significant number of parties have expressed interest in buying or merging with the company, but it is formulating a parallel plan in the event a sale or merger is not realized to manage its debt obligations. The company said it shut down its wholesale natural gas marketing operations, which were conducted by Coast Energy Group (CEG). It reported a quarterly loss of $9.7 million or 40 cents per unit compared with net income of $11.6 million or 48 cents per unit in the same quarter in 2000.

The market was “kind of back to normal,” as one trader expressed it, Wednesday following the fundamentals-defying firmness of the previous day. Bowing to the unseasonably mild temperatures dominating all regions (Florida remained something of an exception), prices fell by about a dime or less at a majority of points.

A spokesperson for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas Inc. (ERCOT) yesterday expressed optimism that ERCOT will be able to meet a Friday deadline to complete additional interactive testing with utilities and new market competitors before it begins operating as a single control area, which will in turn clear the way for a full ramp-up of the state’s deregulation pilot. But ERCOT’s Heather Tindall also refused to rule out further delays if the council determines that its systems are not up to snuff by the time the latest deadline rolls around July 20.