Finding

WGL Holdings, Inc. said Tuesday it has delayed releasing its company’s earnings due to a notice of hearing issued by the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia. The hearing will look into the basic rates, charges and terms and conditions of service of its subsidiary, Washington Gas Light Co.

“Finding creative ways to make deals happen is a bigger challenge for me than assessing a financial statement,” according to Frank Hilton, vice president and chief credit officer for AEP. “You have to look at other things besides the balance sheet,” Hilton told the audience at the LDC Forum last Tuesday in Chicago.

“Finding creative ways to make deals happen is a bigger challenge for me than assessing a financial statement,” according to Frank Hilton, vice president and chief credit officer for AEP. “You have to look at other things besides the balance sheet,” Hilton told the audience at the LDC Forum Tuesday in Chicago.

Bringing stranded gas to market has long been considered a possibility for exploration and production companies, but finding economical ways to do — without building new pipelines — has been the problem. However, as the thirst for natural gas grows in North America, several companies are stepping up their efforts to move stranded gas to market. Most of the news has centered on liquefied natural gas (LNG), but the interest in compressed natural gas (CNG) is growing, and may be more of a real possibility now than ever before.

The power industry should look to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, not Congress, to accomplish the restructuring of the electric power market, Dynegy Chairman Chuck Watson told a Washington audience Thursday. “FERC knows how to get things done.”

Integrated energy companies have continued to consolidate, but finding value for the shareholders remains a challenge for companies in North America and around the world. To find that value, said an investment banker in Houston this week, some of the super majors may consider spinning off their exploration and production (E&P) units to concentrate on pure exploration and pure production — basically unbundling the value that many of the smaller independents have found.

Integrated energy companies have continued to consolidate, but finding value for the shareholders remains a challenge for companies in North America and around the world. To find that value, said an investment banker in Houston this week, some of the super majors may consider spinning off their exploration and production (E&P) units to concentrate on pure exploration and pure production — basically unbundling the value that many of the smaller independents have found.

Even if the once high-flying Enron Corp. should cease to exist, either by being declared bankrupt or by being swallowed by Dynegy Corp. or another competitor, it is unlikely that this would have a significant “domino effect” on other companies in the energy business due to their limited financial exposure to Enron, El Paso Corp. executive Ralph Eads told Wall Street analysts Wednesday.

A study done by FERC last February of California power generation plant outages was “not thorough enough” to support its finding that audited companies were not physically withholding power supply to drive up prices in the state, according to a new report by the General Accounting Office (GAO).