Fight

Natural gas shippers face extra costs of C$275 million (US$172 million) per year as a result of proposals by TransCanada PipeLines, according to calculations by an irate Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. In written preliminaries for hearings before the National Energy Board that promise to be long and hot after they start Feb. 19, CAPP calls TransCanada’s financial requests “grossly excessive.” Other protesters, while more diplomatic, are also firm — including Mirant Canada Energy Marketing Ltd.

Natural-gas shippers face extra costs of C$275 million (US$172 million) per year as a result of proposals by TransCanada PipeLines, according to calculations by an irate Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. In written preliminaries for hearings before the National Energy Board that promise to be long and hot after they start Feb. 19, CAPP calls TransCanada’s financial requests “grossly excessive.” Other protesters, while more diplomatic, are also firm — including Mirant Canada Energy Marketing Ltd.

Democrats in the House of Representatives are gearing up to wage a fight this week that, if successful, would force consideration of energy price-cap legislation on to the House floor. The move by House Democrats stands in marked contrast to a recent decision by their counterparts in the Senate to hold off on similar legislation in the wake of a move by FERC last week to extend price controls on bulk electricity transactions to the entire western region.

Montana Power last week offered up plenty of signs that it is ready to fight tooth and nail over a move by the Montana Public Service Commission (MPSC) to assert authority over the rates Montana Power can charge default supply customers. The utility worries that the state commission’s stance could ultimately put it in the position of having to buy power at high market prices and selling that same power at below market prices.

Montana Power last week offered up plenty of signs that it is ready to fight tooth and nail over a move by the Montana Public Service Commission (MPSC) to assert authority over the rates Montana Power can charge default supply customers. The utility worries that the state commission’s stance could ultimately put it in the position of having to buy power at high market prices and sell that same power at below market prices.

Barrett Resources wasn’t quite ready to circle the wagons onFriday to fight off a hostile takeover bid by Royal Dutch ShellGroup, but it did give Shell the cold shoulder. Barrett said itwould begin an open bidding process to consider proposals from “anumber of qualified parties, rather than commencing negotiationssolely with Shell under artificial deadlines that only serveShell’s interests.”

Barrett Resources wasn’t quite ready to circle the wagons onFriday to fight off a hostile takeover bid by Royal Dutch ShellGroup, but did give Shell the cold shoulder. Barrett said it wouldbegin an open bidding process to consider proposals from “a numberof qualified parties, rather than commencing negotiations solelywith Shell under artificial deadlines that only serve Shell’sinterests.”

Two bills were introduced in the Senate and House yesterday tofight back efforts to open up the coastal plain region of theArctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and natural gasexploration and production.

After a hard fight over a small project assigned bigsignificance by the contestants, the National Energy Board (NEB)has upheld the doctrine that has ushered pipeline competition intothe Canadian natural-gas community. An NEB panel under boardChairman Ken Vollman approved a new, producer-sponsored bypass ofthe TransCanada-Nova system in Alberta, rejecting pleas for thefederal agency to stop setting precedents favoring new entries intogas transportation.