Legal

“This very short extension, if granted, will allow us to finalize an agreement we have reached in principle between the official representative of all our creditors and the court-appointed plan facilitator of the Enron North America estate,” said Stephen F. Cooper, Enron acting CEO and chief restructuring officer. “We believe that the extension will ultimately expedite our court proceedings, and we are hopeful that the court will approve our motion. We are very pleased with the prospect that the plan will have the support of both the Creditors’ Committee and the ENA Examiner.”

Dynegy Inc. has named Carol F. Graebner executive vice president and general counsel. She will be responsible for Dynegy’s legal, regulatory and government affairs activities, and will report directly to CEO Bruce A. Williamson. Graebner, 49, joins Dynegy from Duke Energy International. She also served as general counsel for Conoco Global Power Inc. Graebner replaces Kenneth E. Randolph, who is retiring after 18 years with Dynegy.

For energy companies to win back investor confidence and be admitted to the capital markets again, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission first must finish with the California refund claims, western contract disputes, the El Paso Corp. complaint case, standard market design (SMD) and investigations into trading irregularities — and most of all, provide a climate of regulatory certainty, said energy analysts, rating agencies and capital investors last Thursday.

To increase the capital availability for energy markets and restore investor confidence, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission must finish with the California refund claims, western contract disputes, the El Paso Corp. complaint case, standard market design (SMD) and investigations into trading irregularities — and most of all, provide a climate of regulatory certainty, said energy analysts, rating agencies and capital investors Thursday.

Putting to rest a long-running bitter feud, Southwest Gas has agreed to pay Southern Union $17.5 million to settle claims of fraud and bad faith breach of contract related to Southern Union’s attempts to purchase Southwest. Following on the mid-week announcement by the two companies, Oneok Inc. said Friday it had agreed to pay $3 million to Southwest Gas in settlement of other litigation related to the three-way wrangle.

Shell Oil has will pay the state of Alabama $27 million plus another $6.4 million in legal fees to settle accusations the company underpaid natural gas royalties for drilling in state waters. Shell denied any wrongdoing.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has called on federal regulators to take legal action against Enron corporate officers for allegedly engaging in insider trading of company stock, and to freeze all proceeds arising from illegal stock sales pending the outcome of the litigation.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has called on federal regulators to take legal action against Enron corporate officers for allegedly engaging in insider trading of company stock, and to freeze all proceeds arising from illegal stock sales pending the outcome of the litigation.

County Executive Andrew Spano of Westchester County, NY, vowed Thursday to use every “administrative, political and legal weapon” at his disposal to block construction of the embattled Millennium Pipeline project through the city of Mount Vernon.