Leader

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) reportedly has refusedto sign off on a recess appointment that would enable FERC ChairmanJames J. Hoecker to stay on the Commission for another year untilthe end of the 2001 congressional session, according to industrysources in Washington.

With lofty goals of becoming a nationally recognized leader inretail energy supply, The New Power Company, formed in May throughan alliance of Enron, America Online, IBM, and General Electric,filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Fridayto launch an initial public offering of $400 million.

Hanover Compressor completed its acquisition of Stewart &Stevenson Services’s natural gas compressor leasing business, anestablished market leader in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming, for$60 million in cash and notes. Under terms of the agreement,Hanover will purchase gas compression equipment and related supportfrom Stewart & Stevenson, and Stewart & Stevenson willrefer subsequent compression leasing business to Hanover. “Theacquisition of Stewart & Stevenson’s PAMCO ServicesInternational (PSI) unit is another step in our strategic plan toextend Hanover’s leadership of the compression rental servicesmarket,” said Hanover CEO Michael J. McGhan. “This acquisition addsoutstanding personnel and equipment to Hanover’s existingoperations and establishes for our Company a major base ofoperations in the rapidly growing Powder River Basin of Wyoming,one of the major coal-bed methane-producing regions of the U.S.”

More security. More electronic commerce solutions. Moreflexibility. Those are a few of the reasons that e-commerce leaderAltra Energy Technologies Inc. announced yesterday it will upgradeits Internet web-based services by using Extensible MarkupLanguage, or XML, to integrate its AltraWeb Product. XML is aprecise, cutting-edge version of its forerunner, hypertext markuplanguage (HTML), the basic language used to communicate on theWorld Wide Web.

A range war in the Canadian natural gas community has come to anend with the industry’s chief enemy being led out of an Albertacourtroom in handcuffs to await a potentially long prison sentencefor sabotage.

KN Gas Services emerged as the market leader from thethree-month-long Agricultural Choice Gas Program in Nebraska, as itsigned 36% of the customers who participated in the program. Theresults of the pilot program were released last week by KN Energy.

KN Gas Services emerged as the market leader from thethree-month-long Agricultural Choice Gas Program in Nebraska, as itsigned 36% of the customers who participated in the program. Theresults of the pilot program were released yesterday by KN Energy.

Midway through round four of the NiSource-Columbia bout last week there still was no clear leader as CEOs for both companies went back to gnawing at each other’s ears. It’s been four weeks since NiSource Chairman Gary Neale threw the first punch with a $5.7 billion, $68/share offer for Columbia Energy Group’s outstanding shares, and it’s now two weeks before that offer expires.

A former pipeline lobbyist has been tapped to steer the NaturalGas Supply Association (NGSA) back on course following the scandalin which its former president, Nicholas J. Bush, allegedly swindled$2.8 million from the group.