Filings

An investigation into BP plc’s commodities trading activities has been widened by U.S. authorities to include its U.S. crude oil and storage business activities, according to company filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

An investigation into BP plc’s commodities trading activities has been widened by U.S. authorities to include its U.S. crude oil and storage business activities, according to company filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A day after it made regulatory filings to spin off its sprawling gas transmission, storage and field services business, including Ontario utility Union Gas, as a separate company, Duke Energy on Friday named an executive team for the new corporation. It also announced the sale of a 49% stake in its massive real estate operations, Crescent Resources, to Morgan Stanley Real Estate for $1.4 billion after tax.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) Thursday unanimously approved the request of its two largest utilities to waive their annual cost-of-capital filings for next year. In avoiding formal proceedings this fall on the subject the CPUC will instead hold a generic workshop on the subject to develop better ways in the future to more accurately determine the private-sector utilities’ capital costs.

In separate filings submitted to FERC, Duke Power and MidAmerican Energy proposed to implement independent grid coordinator plans. For its part, Duke Power wants the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (MISO) to serve as its independent transmission coordinator, while MidAmerican plans to contract with a yet-to-be-determined independent transmission service coordinator (TSC).

In the first of several required regulatory filings, Cinergy Corp. and Duke Energy on Wednesday filed an application with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) that seeks approval of their merger agreement by the end of this year. Duke announced the $9 billion merger last month (see NGI, May 16).

Only weeks away from planned filings of formal regulatory applications and after nearly four years of study and negotiation, the proposed C$5 billion, 1.2 Bcf/d. Mackenzie Valley Pipeline finally secured support from a majority of the aboriginal communities along the 760-mile route.

Imperial Oil Ltd., the Mackenzie Valley pipeline consortium’s lead partner, is likely to begin regulatory filings by this summer, and natural gas could flow from the long-awaited pipe by 2009, an executive said last week. Imperial’s news mirrors that of another consortium partner, ConocoPhillips, which earlier this month said it, too, expected applications to be filed by this summer (see NGI, March 8).

Imperial Oil Ltd., the Mackenzie Valley pipeline consortium’s lead partner, is likely to begin regulatory filings by this summer, and natural gas could flow from the long-awaited pipe by 2009, an executive said Monday. Imperial’s news mirrors that of another consortium partner, ConocoPhillips, which last week said it, too, expected applications to be filed by this summer (see Daily GPI, March 3).