Gone

The senior executive bonuses for this year are gone, some of the long-term executive incentives have been eliminated, capital spending has been reduced even more, and up to $2 billion more in assets will be sold. As El Paso Corp.’s chairman noted, the interstate pipeline leader is not reacting, but rather responding to what shareholders and the marketplace now demand. “We are doing what management is supposed to do,” explained CEO William Wise on Thursday. “We are all sharing the pain.”

Tulsa, OK-based Oneok Inc. went where no man has gone before in second quarter 2002 earnings, marking a 56% increase for its marketing and trading operations segment, which, combined with solid returns in distribution, led to a gain in net income of 64% over the second quarter last year.

Enron? Enron who? That may well be the response by the leaders in NGI ‘s quarterly ranking of North American gas marketers after the former market leader, which had led the rankings since 1997, was displaced by companies that have traditionally done well but never grabbed the brass ring in gas sales. Mirant, which last year bought TransCanada — another top 20 contender in year-end rankings — pulled to the top of the list in the final quarter of 2001, with a near-111% jump in sales, followed closely by Aquila, which saw its sales increase 35%.

Enron? Enron who? That may well be the response by the leaders in NGI’s quarterly ranking of North American gas marketers after the former market leader, which had led the rankings since 1997, was displaced by companies that have traditionally done well but never grabbed the brass ring in gas sales. Mirant, which last year bought TransCanada — another top 20 contender in year-end rankings — pulled to the top of the list in the final quarter of 2001, with a near-111% jump in sales, followed closely by Aquila, which saw its sales increase 35%.

By this summer, at least two more energy trading companies — more likely asset-light instead of asset-heavy — may be forced to file for bankruptcy, which will offer opportunities for other companies, and perhaps even an opening for new trading players, a panel of energy executives forecast last Tuesday. Speaking at the UBS Warburg Global Energy & Utilities Conference in New York City, the panel agreed that companies most likely to succeed will be the multi-dimensional players, with balanced portfolios that operate in both high or low volatility markets.

California regulators will hold public hearings Tuesday and Wednesday in the mountains and high desert region about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles as part of an investigation into the skyrocketing natural gas prices last winter charged by Las Vegas, NV-based Southwest Gas Corp.

Saying linepack had stabilized, El Paso canceled an Unauthorized Overpull Penalty alert Wednesday, one day after it had gone into effect. The pipeline also said it will take Line 1100 between the Eunice and Pecos River stations down for repairs June 26. Six interconnects will be unable to deliver into El Paso that day, and the total flow of gas through Eunice Station to the South Mainline will be limited to 245 MMcf/d. Plants upstream of Eunice and in the Monument area will compete for space with San Juan and Anadarko gas moving south from Plains Station.

The month of May is almost gone and support in the California legislature for the governor’s deal with Southern California Edison was still missing last week, so Republican members crafted an alternative that would not involve sale of the utility’s transmission assets to the state. In the meantime, Democratic state legislative leaders took aim at FERC as did most of the rest of the state government’s elected and appointed officials.

Out-of-state power generators that have taken much of the flak for all that’s gone wrong in California’s electricity markets last Thursday blasted a recent lawsuit by California Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante and Assemblywoman Barbara Matthews that accused the companies of engaging in illegal price fixing activities. As they prepare to wage war on yet another legal front, those same generators are mulling whether now is the right time to sit down with California Gov. Gray Davis to discuss the state’s energy crisis.