Formal

FERC has ordered a formal, non-public investigation into the “apparent disclosure” to The New York Times of documents that were supposed to be sealed and protected as part of the California regulators’ complaint case against El Paso Natural Gas and affiliates.

FERC has ordered a formal, non-public investigation to be conducted into the “apparent disclosure” to The New York Times of documents that were supposed to be sealed and protected as part of the California regulators’ complaint case against El Paso Natural Gas and affiliates.

Washington Gas Light Co. last week called on FERC to schedule aformal hearing to explore concerns of distribution customers thatthe liquefied natural gas (LNG) to be imported by Williams’ CovePoint LNG facility will meet the standards for pipeline-qualitygas.

Washington Gas Light Co. has asked FERC to schedule a formalhearing to assure it and other potential distribution customersthat the liquefied natural gas (LNG) to be imported by Williams’Cove Point LNG facility in Lusby, MD, will be pipeline-quality gas.

BP Amoco and Atlantic Richfield Co. plan to take the next formalstep to close their merger by restarting the required 20-day noticeperiod, suspended Nov. 2, to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC).The companies concede the FTC has concerns about their pairing, butthe merger partners said they don’t agree with the issues raised bythe commission.

With the formal announcement last week that Commissioner VickyA. Bailey will leave the Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioneffective Feb. 1, rumors have been flying fast and furious as towho will be her successor. So far, only one name has surfaced —that of McLane Layton, staff counsel for Sen. Don Nickles (R-OK).

ACN Energy, a gas supplier to thousands of consumers inCalifornia, filed a formal complaint last week to the CaliforniaPublic Utilities Commission (CPUC) concerning distribution feestatements sent out to ACN customers by Southern California Gas(SoCalGas). The complaint accuses SoCalGas of mailing ACN customersstatements that falsely imply SoCalGas is their gas provider. As aresult, ACN said some of its customers have mistakenly andneedlessly sent checks to SoCalGas.

TransCanada PipeLines Ltd. and Nicor Inc. yesterday took thefirst formal step towards making the substantially altered VikingVoyageur pipeline project a reality by scheduling an open seasonfor capacity.