Northwest reminded shippers that during the Jan. 4-6 period its market area experienced extreme cold that caused heavy drafting on the system, and the pipeline’s Jackson Prairie storage account dropped from 1.8 Bcf to 1.4 Bcf in those three days “even with the assistance of a few customers realigning their supplies.” Several weather sources have indicated that similar weather would again reach the market area beginning Sunday (Jan. 25), Northwest said. In addition, it will be conducting maintenance on the Columbia Gorge section of the pipe during the first week in February. To ensure system integrity and maintain adequate storage levels for the upcoming maintenance, Northwest declared a Stage III entitlement (with 13% tolerance for overruns for receiving parties north of the Kemmerer Compressor Station) effective Monday until further notice.
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Articles from Heavy
Allegheny CEO Can’t Rule Out Having to Sell a Core Asset
As his company continues to grapple with a heavy debt load, the CEO of Allegheny Energy last week was unable to completely rule out the possibility of Allegheny selling one of its core assets in order to shore up its tattered balance sheet. Specifically, Allegheny CEO Paul Evanson mentioned the possibility of the company’s parting with one of its core properties located within PJM Interconnection.
CA Legislative Committee Rejects Consumer Group’s Version of PG&E Settlement
With heavy pressure from the state’s largest utility, a California Assembly committee Wednesday rejected an eleventh-hour attempt to push an alternative to the pending settlement between Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and state regulators. The Utility Reform Network (TURN) claimed the measure would save retail electric utility consumers $2.8 billion over the next decade, compared with the utility-regulator settlement.
Transportation Notes
Citing forecasts of continued warm weather in Florida and heavy use of its capacity, Florida Gas Transmission issued an Overage Alert Day notice Friday for customers in its market area. The tolerance for negative daily imbalances was 20%.
Producers’ 2Q Reports Reveal Strong GOM Operations
Three large and gas-heavy North American independents, Pioneer Natural Resources Co., Nexen Inc. and Pogo Producing Co., revealed encouraging second quarter production reports last week, with the best news coming from the companies’ operations in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM).
Government Experts See Continued Heavy-Handed Regulation; Are Price Controls Next?
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has been steadily moving away from light-handed regulation “to the other end of the spectrum with much heavier regulation. This is reflective of the public distrust of the energy market,” Carl Levander, vice president of NiSource’s Columbia pipelines, told attendees at the LDC Forum last week.
Government Experts See Continued Heavy-Handed Regulation
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has been steadily moving way from light-handed regulation “to the other end of the spectrum with much heavier regulation. This is reflective of the public distrust of the energy market,” Carl Levander, vice president of NiSource’s Columbia pipelines, told attendees at the LDC Forum earlier this week.
Transportation Notes
Citing forecasts of continued warm weather in Florida and heavy use of its capacity, Florida Gas Transmission issued an Overage Alert Day notice Tuesday for its market area. The notice carries a 20% tolerance for negative daily imbalances.
Reliant Posts Heavy Losses from Trading, Discontinued Operations
Reliant Resources Inc. on Thursday reported even deeper losses in this year’s first quarter net income than in last year’s due to the poor performance of its wholesale energy trading business and the financial effect of the planned sale of its European energy operations.
CMS Energy Sees Heavy Losses in 2002 Due to Asset Sale Write-Downs
CMS Energy last week reported steep losses in 2002 due mostly to impairments and write-downs associated with assets the energy company has sold or is in the process of selling to help restore its financial stability.
