Last

A last-minute concession by the White House on nuclear-wastestorage cleared the way for the Senate on Friday to confirm byunanimous consent Bill Richardson, currently the U.S. ambassador tothe United Nations, as the next secretary of the Department ofEnergy (DOE).

Senate Energy Committee Chairman Frank Murkowski (R-AK) lastweek said he will hold a hearing into the price spikes in theMidwest electricity market after the Senate returns from its recessin September.

FERC last week came down on the side of Phelps Dodge Corp. in acomplex contract dispute with El Paso Natural Gas. It ordered theTexas-based pipeline to either add the delivery points sought byPhelps Dodge, or to show cause within a month why – due tooperational and capacity constraints – it cannot do so.

Enron deliveries of energy commodities grew 47% from the secondquarter of last year, including a 10% increase in gas deliveriesand a more than 100% increase in power marketed. However, resultsof the gas pipeline group and exploration and production were offslightly, and the retail business, Enron Energy Services (EES),lost more money than it did a year ago.

Marketers lost a battle against LDCs last month when theMichigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) sided with MichiganConsolidated Gas (MichCon) and Consumers Energy in a dispute overfees charged for tracking title to gas that changes hands on theLDCs’ systems. The MPSC found it had no jurisdiction to regulatetitle transfer tracking fees.

Bulk power transactions in 1997 increased significantly over1996 levels, pointing to the continued emergence of a competitivewholesale power market, according to Metzler Services’ 1997operating data and statistics for the electric utility industry.

IPL Energy and MCN Energy took the last major regulatory step inadvancing their 1 Bcf/d Vector Pipeline project this week by filingan application with Canada’s National Energy Board forauthorization to construct the 16-mile Ontario portion of the342-mile line. An application for the larger U.S. portion was filedwith FERC in December.

TransCanada PipeLines Limited and NOVA Corp. last week completedtheir merger, the largest ever undertaken by energy companies inCanada. The new TransCanada PipeLines Limited and NOVA Corp. begantrading in Canada July 3. Trading began in the United StatesMonday.

Evergreen Resources Inc. last week reached an agreement toacquire Amoco Production’s oil and gas interests in the Raton Basinof Colorado, resolving current litigation matters between the twoproducers.