Leading

The key lessons learned in the financial massacre of leading gas and electric companies are that “balance sheet matters…real cash flow matters…assets matter…and dividends matter,” Southern Co.’s CFO Gale Klappa told the Banc of America Securities Energy & Power Conference last Wednesday.

Several leading energy marketers and traders in North America, including American Electric Power (AEP), Constellation Energy Group, Duke Energy, Mirant, Tractebel North America Inc. and TXU, have formed an industry committee to identify and define the best practices in risk management for that specific sector of the energy business. The Committee of CROs will be open to all companies involved in some aspect of the merchant energy sector, led by the chief risk officers of the participating companies.

Energy stock prices joined the rising tide on the stock market Monday, with Mirant, Calpine and Dynegy leading the wave with gains of more than 11% for Mirant and close to 9% for Calpine and Mirant. Also having a good day were Williams, Reliant and AES, all up by more than 3%. Other energy suppliers saw rises up to 3%. The only group still recording more losers than winners were natural gas utilities. The stock prices of energy companies have been battered in recent months by low energy prices and the Enron implosion. No one yet is calling it a turnaround point, but there was one positive indicator: Monday was the first day in a looooong time that Enron wasn’t on the front page of The Houston Chronicle or The Washington Post.

Although off-the-book partnerships are “very commonplace” among U.S. corporations, a leading securities analyst said that what Enron Corp. did “was mutate [them] into something that was unrecognizable.”

Although off-the-book partnerships are “very commonplace” among U.S. corporations, a leading securities analyst said that what Enron Corp. did “was mutate [them] into something that was unrecognizable.”

John N. Seitz, president and COO of leading independent Anadarko Petroleum Corp., has been elected CEO by the board. Robert J. Allison , now chairman and CEO, will retain his chairman of the board position. “John has been an instrumental part of Anadarko’s tremendous success with exploration and development drilling for more than 20 years and he will now be the chief executive of the company,” said Allison. “I’m proud of what we have achieved for shareholders.” Allison also said he intends to be a full-time, active chairman and has no immediate plans for retirement. Allison joined Anadarko in 1973 as vice president of operations and was promoted to president in 1976 and CEO in 1979. He took on the additional role of chairman when Anadarko was spun off from Panhandle Eastern in 1986. Seitz joined Anadarko in 1977 as an exploration geologist and was named vice president of exploration and production operations in 1989 and promoted to executive vice president of exploration and production and elected to the company’s board in 1997. In 1999, Seitz was promoted to president and COO. Seitz will host investor meetings in New York City, Boston and Denver next week to discuss his views on the industry and Anadarko’s preliminary capital spending plans for 2002. For details of the meetings or copies of the presentation, visit the web site at www.anadarko.com

John N. Seitz, president and COO of leading independent Anadarko Petroleum Corp., has been elected CEO by the board. Robert J. Allison, now chairman and CEO, will retain his chairman of the board position. “John has been an instrumental part of Anadarko’s tremendous success with exploration and development drilling for more than 20 years and he will now be the chief executive of the company,” said Allison. “I’m proud of what we have achieved for shareholders.” Allison also said he intends to be a full-time, active chairman and has no immediate plans for retirement. Allison joined Anadarko in 1973 as vice president of operations and was promoted to president in 1976 and CEO in 1979. He took on the additional role of chairman when Anadarko was spun off from Panhandle Eastern in 1986. Seitz joined Anadarko in 1977 as an exploration geologist and was named vice president of exploration and production operations in 1989 and promoted to executive vice president of exploration and production and elected to the company’s board in 1997. In 1999, Seitz was promoted to president and COO. Seitz will host investor meetings in New York City, Boston and Denver next week to discuss his views on the industry and Anadarko’s preliminary capital spending plans for 2002. For details of the meetings or copies of the presentation, visit the web site at www.anadarko.com

Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-AK), a leading proponent of oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), threatened Thursday to mount a filibuster to the economic-stimulus bill or other legislation, in order to force a vote on the ANWR issue before Congress adjourns for the year.

Richard Riordan, a leading Republican candidate for governor and former mayor of Los Angeles, last week lashed out at Calfironia’s Gov. Gray Davis for allegedly mishandling the state’s ongoing energy crisis and injecting the state into too strong a role within the electricity industry.