Generating

With its participation in two of the largest natural gas projects offshore the United States already under its belt this year, Pioneer Natural Resources has generated a cash windfall and expects to have nearly $1 billion in free cash flow for the next two years with a return on equity in the 20-22% range, CEO Scott Sheffield said Wednesday.

With its participation in two of the largest natural gas projects offshore the United States already under its belt this year, Pioneer Natural Resources has generated a cash windfall and expects to have nearly $1 billion in free cash flow for the next two years with a return on equity in the 20-22% range, CEO Scott Sheffield said Wednesday.

Continuing to be driven by the thirst of more natural gas-fired electric generating plants, California natural gas supplies should remain sufficient, although prices will stay higher than they have been in the past in the $4-$6/MMBtu range, according to an updated forecast released last Wednesday by the state energy commission.

Continuing to be driven by the thirst of more natural gas-fired electric generating plants, California natural gas supplies should remain sufficient, although prices will stay higher than they have been in the past in the $4-$6/MMBtu range, according to an updated forecast released Wednesday by the state energy commission.

Paced by triple-digit advances at Midwest and Northeast citygates and on Dominion in Appalachia and several Midcontinent pipes, nearly the entire cash market put in a strong weekend price performance in Friday’s super-volatile trading. Flat San Juan Basin numbers missed out on the price party, and other western points tended to see most of the smaller gains of less than 30 cents.

KeySpan Corp. (KSE) revealed that it will be taking a $30 million after-tax second quarter charge, or 22 cents per share, against earnings to tie up some recently discovered loose ends on several construction projects of its Roy Kay Companies subsidiary, which it purchased last year. CEO Robert Catell also said the recent declines in gas and power prices have forced a downward revision in full-year results for the company.

An equipment problem involving steam to the main turbine at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in Arizona caused a shutdown of Unit 2, APS Generation said on Friday. The 1,270 MW unit (APS share = 380 MW) performed as designed in this situation and shut down automatically. While all of the equipment operated normally during the shutdown, the details are being investigated and it is expected that the unit will return to service early next week, APS said. Units 1 and 3 continue to operate at full power. In the meantime, APS reported that it has adequate supply to meet its customer needs. “Our reserves are sufficient to meet customer demands during the outage,” said Jim Levine, executive vice president of APS Generation. “Our customers will have the energy they need to keep their homes cool and their lights on.” APS Generation, a subsidiary of Pinnacle West Capital Corp., operates Palo Verde on behalf of the station’s six other owners.

Duke Energy North America announced the sale of its ownership interest in Duke Energy McClain to NRG Energy. Duke Energy McClain is the holder of a 77% interest in the McClain energy generating facility, a 500 MW merchant power facility under construction in Oklahoma. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The McClain facility is a combined-cycle, natural gas-fired merchant generation facility located near Newcastle, OK. Construction of the facility began in March 2000, with commercial operations set to begin this summer. Duke Energy McClain closed on the sale of a 23% interest in the facility to the Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority in March 2001. The sale of the McClain facility is expected to close in the third quarter of 2001.

The Shaw Group Inc., based in Baton Rouge, has signed anagreement with PG&E National Energy Group to construct 3,300 MWof new generating capacity, comprising three combined-cycle powerplants, with the first plant to be constructed in Michigan. Noexact location or financial details were disclosed.