Francisco

While speaking about the ongoing energy crisis in California on Friday at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco, Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling was hit in the face with a pie from a protester who was then quickly removed from the building. Skilling reportedly unphased, wiped the pie from his face and commented “People in California are angry, and they should be.” He then continued on with his speech, blaming California’s regulators for the energy crisis in the state. Enron, along with numerous other energy companies have come under the spotlight after recent accusations made by Gov. Gray Davis and state officials implied that the companies forced electricity prices higher by holding back supply.

Kerr-McGee has received antitrust approval for its $1.3 billion acquisition of natural gas producer HS Resources Inc., based in San Francisco. The Oklahoma City independent said it had been granted early termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, and when completed, Kerr-McGee would join the top five list of leading oil and gas independents, and would up its gas reserves 77%. Kerr-McGee announced in mid-May that it would acquire gas-rich HS Resources for $66 per share (see NGI, May 21). The deal will consist of a 70% cash payment and 30% of Kerr-McGee Stock. Kerr-McGee also will assume about $450 million of HS Resources’ debt. With its core program in the Rockies, HS Resources holds about 1.3 Tcfe in reserves in the Denver-Julesburg Basin of northeast Colorado. With the acquisition, Kerr-McGee said it expected to increase its daily production of U.S. natural gas by more than 45%.

Kerr-McGee has received antitrust approval for its $1.3 billion acquisition of natural gas producer HS Resources Inc., based in San Francisco. The Oklahoma City independent said it had been granted early termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, and when completed, Kerr-McGee would join the top five list of leading oil and gas independents, and would up its gas reserves 77%.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco took little time in rejecting an emergency request by the California legislature to force FERC to cap wholesale energy prices. The request was filed last Tuesday and tossed out by Friday. The panel ruled that the legislature did not demonstrate that the case warranted emergency action.

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco rejected petitions by the California Power Exchange (Cal-PX) to stay three critical elements of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Dec. 15 order, which mapped out a series of reforms for the out-of-control California wholesale power market.

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco last week rejected a petition by the California Power Exchange (Cal-PX) to stay three critical elements of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Dec. 15 order, which mapped out a series of reforms for chronic problems in the California wholesale power market.

Exploring yet another legal avenue, Pacific Gas and Electric Co.Wednesday filed in San Francisco’s federal district court askingfor a judicial ruling that will mandate that it can recover all ofthe nearly $3 billion in uncollected wholesale electricity coststhat have been mounting since May when price spikes in Califonia’smarket left the state’s major investor-owned utilities vulnerablebecause their retail power rates are frozen at 1996 levels.

Responding to regulatory and industry warnings of potentialpower outages this summer, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., SanFrancisco, has begun offering its largest customers payments forvoluntarily curtailing at least 20% of their loads during peaksummer days. The large combination utility covering the northernhalf of California is targeting its 450 largest customers and arelatively few small businesses to obtain up to 500 MW of savingsin a given peak hour.

The recent Oscar winners have nothing on San Francisco’svenerable Gran Dame of combination energy utilities, Pacific Gasand Electric Co., whose film career and notoriety seem destined towin increasing Hollywood scrutiny if not gold statuettes.