Leaving

The furious upward rush of swing cash prices finally ran out ofsteam Tuesday, leaving most of the market in a consolidation andstabilization mode. Except for a nickel rise in Transco’s Zone6-NYC pool and milder increases on several Midcontinent pipes, flatnumbers were the order of the day at nearly all eastern points.Although the Midwest and Northeast market areas had cooled off abit since Monday, forecasts for a heat wave to re-intensify laterthis week kept prices from retreating, a marketer said.

Senate Bill 7, legislation requiring electricity marketcompetition in Texas as of Jan. 1, 2002, passed the state SenateFriday, leaving the Governor’s signature as the missing piece ofthe puzzle before the bill becomes law. Governor George W. Bush hasnot said when he will sign the Sen. David Sibley (R-Waco)-sponsoredbill, but has voiced his support.

Elizabeth Anne “Betsy” Moler, former deputy secretary of theU.S. Department of Energy and chair of the Federal EnergyRegulatory Commission, is leaving the public sector for privatepractice at a major law firm. Moler will become a partner and serveas co-chair of Vinson &amp Elkins LLP’s electric power practice. AtVinson &amp Elkins, Moler will focus on the restructuring of theNorth American power industry and on the increasing role ofcompetition in the gas business, both areas where she has played amajor role while in government. “I hope to put my 30 years ofgovernment experience to good use advising private sector clientsas they chart a course through the challenges posed by anincreasingly competitive business environment. Virtually all of myprofessional experience has been in the energy area, so Vinson &ampElkins, with its large and varied energy practice, seems like aperfect fit for me.” Moler played a significant role in FERC’sdevelopment and implementation of Order No. 636 and was chair ofthe FERC when it issued its Order No. 888, which opened thenation’s electric transmission grid. Vinson &amp Elkins has 580lawyers with more than 175 involved in various aspects of itsenergy practice. The firm has offices in Austin, TX; Beijing,Dallas, Houston, London, Moscow, New York, Singapore, andWashington, D.C.

Paul Anderson is leaving the post of president and chiefoperating officer of Duke Energy, a position he assumed when Dukebought PanEnergy, to become managing director and CEO of BrokenHill Pty. Ltd. He will relocate to Australia. Anderson announcedthe move two days after Duke announced it was selling two-thirds ofPanEnergy – the Panhandle Eastern and Trunkline pipelines – to CMSCorp.

The futures market concluded what one trader described as a”tumultuous trading week” by slipping for the fifth straight day,leaving futures at their lowest level since March 1997. There was alittle something for everyone in the market last week: speculativeselling, a bullish storage report, and even a little hurricanehype. The only thing missing from trading last week was a dayregistering a gain. That left even the most bullish of tradersscratching their horns wondering when the market will reverse itsdowntrend. The September contract closed at $1.844 on Friday, down6.2 cents. Friday’s With that, the market concluded the month ofJuly. A month that saw major declines in both cash and futuresmarkets eroding the September contract nearly 30 percent of itsJuly 1 value.

PanCanadian Petroleum subsidiary PanCanadian Gulf of MexicoInc., made a deep-water oil and gas discovery in the Gulf of Mexicothat it likened to Shell’s prolific Auger Field. The Llanodiscovery well, in Garden Banks Block 386 about 137 miles offshoreLouisiana, drilled to a record depth for the Gulf of 27,864 feet.The sands at Llano correlate closely to similar sands encounteredby Shell Deepwater Development in the Auger Field, less than 15miles to the southwest, containing a reported 220 million barrelsof oil equivalent reserves. Auger has reported reserves of 220million Boe with approximate production of 100,000 barrels of oiland 300 MMcf of gas per day.

After less than two years as president of NGC Corp., TomMatthews is leaving the company for an organization he considers anon-traditional utility, Washington Water Power (WWP). He said thecompany he will run as CEO and chairman of the board is among abouta half dozen utilities that have been “inventive and creative” inresponding to deregulation.

The cash market hemmed and hawed again Tuesday morning, leavingprices virtually where they were last Friday. However, the futuresmarket would not go quietly. After a fairly unremarkable session tostart the week, the bulls once again had their way, pushing the Maycontract up more than 13 cents for the day(please see futures story). Cash prices were mostlyimmune to the strength.