List

Adding its name to the growing list of companies that have exited the North American energy marketing and trading function, German super-utility RWE AG said Tuesday that RWE Trading Americas — a subsidiary of RWE Trading GmbH — will exit the market before the end of the year.

The list of proposed North American liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities continues to grow, with the latest project planned for Nova Scotia by Access Northeast Energy Inc. (ANE). The Bear Head LNG Terminal, to be developed near Point Tupper, NS, could begin commercial operations by November 2007, offering between 750 MMcf/d-1 Bcf/d of send-out capacity into the Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline.

The list of proposed North American liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities continues to grow, with the latest project planned for Nova Scotia by Access Northeast Energy Inc. (ANE). The Bear Head LNG Terminal, to be developed near Point Tupper, NS, could begin commercial operations by November 2007, offering between 750 MMcf/d-1 Bcf/d of send-out capacity into the Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline.

The two biggest success stories of FERC’s Office of Market Oversight and Investigations (OMOI) during its first year were a record $20 million civil penalty brought against Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp. for engaging in marketing affiliate abuse, and a $1.7 billion settlement to resolve charges that El Paso Corp. drove up natural gas prices in California during the state’s energy crisis, said OMOI Director William F. Hederman last Tuesday.

The two biggest successes of FERC’s Office of Market Oversight and Investigations (OMOI) during its first year were a record $20 million civil penalty brought against Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp. for engaging in marketing affiliate abuse, and a $1.7 billion settlement to resolve charges that El Paso Corp. drove up natural gas prices in California during the state’s energy crisis, said OMOI Director William F. Hederman Tuesday.

Sempra Energy’s Los Angeles-based gas utility Southern California Gas Co. Wednesday announced it is offering to list natural gas suppliers who market to its largest customers on the utility web site (www.socalgas.com). Suppliers interested in being listed should call: Mary Reid, SoCalGas transportation products advisor, 213-244-3898. As the nation’s largest gas utility distribution company, SoCalGas serves 18 million customers through 5.1 million meters in a service territory encompassing 23,000 miles in the southern half of California. The utility said the move was another effort to “provide exceptional customer service.”

BP, Conoco, Oneok, Reliant and Sempra topped Mastio & Co. 2002 gas marketer customer satisfaction ranking. The companies that showed the greatest improvement from 2001, Mastio said, were BP, Duke Energy, ExxonMobil and Sempra. However, of the 20 marketers in the 2001 customer satisfaction index, only 13 remained in 2002 and several of those have announced they are exiting the marketing business, Mastio noted in its statement on the ranking.

Just as it seemed Georgia’s deregulated natural gas marketer list was ready to shrink by one more, the Georgia Public Service Commission said Tuesday that it has approved the application of Coweta-Fayette EMC Natural Gas Inc. to be a gas marketer. With the commission’s latest action, Georgia now has 10 certified gas marketers in the state.

Westar Energy added yet another investigation to its already long list, disclosing in its 10-Q filing Thursday that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) intends to take a closer look at the restatement of the company’s first and second quarter financial results. The company said earlier this month it will restate its quarterly financials to reflect an additional impairment (a charge of $93 million) at Protection One Inc., a home security company in which the Topeka, KS-based company owns an 88% stake (see Power Market Today, Nov. 4). The charge increased its first-half loss to $737.1 million, or $10.31 a share, Westar said.