Involved

Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay and ex-CEO Jeffrey Skilling were actively involved in the day-to-day financial dealings at their company and either knew about or took part in some of the alleged wrongdoing, the former chief of investor relations testified Monday.

FERC last Thursday issued a proposed rule aimed at reducing the time and expense involved in settling disputes that arise when parties move to change the terms of their jurisdictional wholesale natural gas and power sales contracts.

FERC on Thursday issued a proposed rule aimed at reducing the time and expense involved in settling disputes that arise when parties move to change the terms of their jurisdictional wholesale natural gas and power sales contracts.

The increase in natural gas futures market volatility over the last few years has coincided with a similar rise in hedge fund market participation, but hedge funds have been unfairly blamed for being the cause the market’s woes, according to several panelists speaking at GasMart in New Orleans on Wednesday. Their conclusions generally echoed those of the New York Mercantile Exchange on the topic (see Daily GPI, March 9).

The horror stories told by commercial and industrial companies this Halloween involved high natural gas prices rather than ghouls and goblins. Gas consumers are struggling to adapt to $7-9/MMBtu natural gas and to the dramatic changes that have taken place in the market over the last four years, according to energy service providers.

“Confidence in the energy markets is essential,” FERC’s director of the Office of Market Oversight and Investigations (OMOI) told a Houston audience last Monday. “Price reporting on a voluntary basis is an important element of good citizenship in energy markets…and FERC will be paying attention to who is acting responsibly.”

“Confidence in the energy markets is essential,” FERC’s director of the Office of Market Oversight and Investigations (OMOI) told a Houston audience Monday. “Price reporting on a voluntary basis is an important element of good citizenship in energy markets…and FERC will be paying attention to who is acting responsibly.”

No movie was involved, but “The Big Chill” descended on the Northeast Tuesday and sent delivered prices in New England skyrocketing as high as $30. Outside the Northeast, the market was decidedly mixed around flatness with numbers ranging from a quarter down to half a dollar higher.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice announced last Monday that they reached settlements with one of North America’s largest financial institutions, Toronto-based Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), for its role in defrauding investors in the years leading up to Enron Corp.’s bankruptcy in late 2001.