Groups

It’s been difficult to keep up with the charges and countercharges by the two groups vying to run El Paso Corp. However, as the march toward a June 17 annual meeting in Houston nears, the proxy battle for the board of directors most likely will rest on which group the shareholders find most credible: the current members, who have attempted to remake the company following a blistering two-year stretch, or the proposed board, composed of a group of energy professionals that claims it can do better.

Citing allegations from consumer groups and other opponents in past proceedings that were left unaddressed, the five-member California Public Utilities Commission Thursday in a split decision directed its staff to launch an investigation into the operations of San Diego-based Sempra Energy’s two major utilities in relation to various merchant energy businesses that Sempra also operates.

Citing allegations from consumer groups and other opponents in past proceedings that were left unaddressed, the five-member California Public Utilities Commission Thursday in a split decision directed its staff to launch an investigation into the operations of San Diego-based Sempra Energy’s two major utilities in relation to various merchant energy businesses that Sempra also operates.

Perhaps emboldened with shakeups in corporate board rooms across the country, some Exxon Mobil Corp. shareholders have called for the roles of chairman and chief executive officer to be separated. Lee Raymond has held the dual roles since Exxon and Mobil merged in November 1999; he had held both roles at Exxon before the merger.

Over protests by several environmental groups, BNP Petroleum Corp. has received permission to drill two new natural gas wells in the ecologically sensitive Padre Island National Seashore of Texas.

Representatives from natural gas pipeline companies, gas associations and Mid Atlantic power grid operator PJM Interconnection met recently to begin discussions about the impact of adding more natural gas-fired power plants in PJM’s territory. But news of the talks came just as analysts at Energy Security Analysis Inc. (ESAI) issued a report questioning whether the bulk of generation development underway in PJM will ever come to fruition.

A broad coalition of natural gas producers, consumer groups and utilities, including Apache Corp. and the American Public Gas Association, used sharp words Wednesday to criticize energy traders and marketers for manipulating gas and electricity markets to create volatility, which, they said, could be stopped if transparent trading systems were put in place by regulators.

Much as it did last week (see Daily GPI, Jan. 2), Sonat implemented an OFO Type 3 Monday for eight market-area groups on its system (Birmingham Group, South Main Zone 2, Atlanta Group, South Main Zone 3, East of Wrens, South Georgia-Lee County, Brunswick Group and Savannah Group). The pipeline also resumed allocations of interruptible capacity in the Chattanooga Group, East Tennessee Group and North Alabama Group.

Based on cold weather forecasts and projected demand, Sonat issued an OFO Type 3 for eight market-area groups, effective Tuesday until further notice. See the bulletin board for a list of affected delivery points.