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Frustrated by inaction at the federal level on wholesale power price caps, California gubernatorial staffers Wednesday tossed their latest grenade on the public negotiations table by supporting a proposed state windfall electricity profits tax. They said Gov. Gray Davis will consider signing such a new law if it hits his desk. But they carefully drew short of saying categorically that the governor will sign a bill or that he is lobbying for one.

As long as prices remain near the current level, the liquefied natural gas market will play a “big role” in both Europe and the United States in the coming years, and with a current growth rate of 8%, LNG will be a “key growth engine” for many of the world’s majors, according to Deutsche Bank analysts, who offered their global assessment of the marketplace Wednesday.

Projecting linepack above its maximum target level through Sunday, Pacific Gas & Electric issued a customer-specific OFO for today.

Somewhat surprisingly, most points outside of California and the Rockies/Southwest basins were able Wednesday to pull out of the price tailspin that had dominated this week’s market. Flat to mildly higher or lower numbers were prevalent in most areas. However, California continued to plunge in triple-digit amounts except for border-SoCalGas quotes, which fell only about 30 cents. The Rockies and Southwest basins generally were down from about a nickel to 20 cents.

Dynegy Inc. reported last week that it expects to release first-quarter earnings per share of $0.40, a 50% increase over last year’s first quarter level of $0.26 per share and a 25% increase over the company’s previous expectations for the quarter of $0.30-$0.32 per share. Dynegy said it captured significant value from strong industry fundamentals in both gas and power by leveraging its national position as a physical supplier of energy commodities, while mitigating the risk from commodity volatility.

Dynegy Inc. reported on Monday that it expects to release first quarter earnings per share of $0.40, a 50% increase over last year’s first quarter level of $0.26 per share and a 25% increase over the company’s previous expectations for the quarter of $0.30-$0.32 per share. Dynegy said it captured significant value from strong industry fundamentals in both gas and power by leveraging its national position as a physical supplier of energy commodities, while mitigating the risk from commodity volatility.

President Bush announced last week he has established aCabinet-level task force that will be led by Vice President RichardCheney to deal with the worsening energy picture.

President Bush announced yesterday he is setting up aCabinet-level task force that will be led by Vice President RichardCheney to tackle the worsening energy problems facing the nation.

A top-level FERC staffer last week asked El Paso Natural Gas toconsider switching its Line 2000 crude-oil conversion from areplacement project to an expansion of its existing system to easepipeline capacity constraints to the California border.