Kill

Regulatory delays may kill the long-delayed Mackenzie Gas Project (MGP), TransCanada Corp. CEO Hal Kvisle said Wednesday.

Weaver’s Cove LNG, the liquefied natural gas (LNG) import project that seemed hardest to kill, may have finally received a death blow. Massachusetts state Sen. Joan Menard (D-Fall River) and state Rep. Robert Correia (D-Fall River) said last Monday that legislation they sponsored to restrict LNG tankers in Massachusetts waters passed in both the House and Senate and was enacted on Monday.

Weaver’s Cove LNG, the liquefied natural gas (LNG) import project that seemed hardest to kill, may have finally received a death blow. Massachusetts state Sen. Joan Menard (D-Fall River) and state Rep. Robert Correia (D-Fall River) said Monday that legislation they created to restrict LNG tankers passed in both the House and Senate late Thursday night and was enacted on Monday.

Retail energy markets for commercial and industrial customers are alive, however, government policymakers on the state and national levels could severely retard them if they continue to blame market-based solutions for the western wholesale power market meltdown two years ago, two industry speakers told a GasMart/Power 2003 audience in New Orleans Tuesday. From both a utility and merchant energy service provider’s point of view, the key is getting beyond current negative perceptions among regulated and elected officials, particularly in the West.

Retail energy markets for commercial and industrial customers are alive, however, government policymakers on the state and national levels could severely retard them if they continue to blame market-based solutions for the western wholesale power market meltdown two years ago, two industry speakers told a GasMart/Power 2003 audience in New Orleans Tuesday. From both a utility and merchant energy service provider’s point of view, the key is getting beyond current negative perceptions among regulated and elected officials, particularly in the West.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week publicly released previously confidential reports that detail, through transcripts of recorded telephone calls, how there may have been an attempt by Williams and AES Corp. to withhold power generation capacity from the California market in order to pressure power prices.

Altra has thrown in the towel in the electronic natural gas trading arena. Last winter’s high gas prices, competition from IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), TradeSpark and other electronic trading systems, and skyrocketing credit insurance costs since Enron’s downfall will force the company to shut down its electronic natural gas trading system at the end of this month, said Altra President Dixie Barrett Paden.

Altra President Dixie Barrett Paden said last winter’s high gas prices, competition from IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), TradeSpark and other electronic trading systems, and skyrocketing credit insurance costs since Enron’s downfall will force the company to shut down its electronic natural gas trading system at the end of this month. Altra informed traders of the decision in a letter last week (see Daily GPI, March 5). Altra also is talking with potential buyers about its successful Chalkboard liquids trading platform.

Price caps are “much like steroids — they make you look good in the short term, but they kill you in the long run,” warned Rep. J.C. Watts of Oklahoma and chairman of the House Republican Conference during the Natural Gas Roundtable last week.