Finances

Potential rewards for improved disclosure of company operations and finances can revitalize investor confidence, leading to higher valuations, less stock price volatility, more long-term investment and a lower cost of capital, according to a survey of natural gas and oil producers and investors by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The prospect for California fulfilling soon its goal of having 15-20% reserve margins in its electric generation capacity is clouded by the current financial uncertainty facing the energy industry, and may not be resolved until there is some further consolidation, according to representatives of merchant generators speaking at an industry conference in San Diego last week.

Texas consumer groups filed a petition with the state’s Public Utility Commission (PUC) Thursday asking for an investigation of NewPower’s financial status. Because of its sagging financial health, NewPower announced it would no longer sign up new customers from Texas and other parts of the country, but instead concentrate on its current ones. NewPower is the state’s leading retail provider of customers that switched from incumbent utilities after Texas deregulated January 1. It currently has more than 70,000 of the 200,000 Texas customers who have switched.

Two recently announced deals provide further proof thatindependent producers are finding it tough going in the current lowcommodity price environment. Houston-based independentRutherford-Moran Oil Corp. struck a deal with Chevron to allow itto continue activities in the Gulf of Thailand, and EEX announcedit is selling $150 million of securities to fund its deep-waterdevelopment program.