Lost

Members of the Passamaquoddy Native American tribe, having lost out in an earlier bid to open a gambling casino, voted in favor of locating an LNG import terminal on their Sipayik Reservation on Passamaquoddy Bay on the northern Maine coast. The vote was 193 to 132, in what Tribal Representative (to the state legislature) Fred Moore III said was the highest turnout ever for a special election.

Greater development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and pipeline facilities in the U.S. and overseas could provide the incentive for energy firms to capture gas that is wasted during production as a result of flaring and venting, according to a new report issued by the congressional Government Accountability Office (GAO) last week.

Members of the Passamaquoddy Native American tribe, having lost out in an earlier bid to open a gambling casino, voted in favor of locating an LNG import terminal on their Sipayik Reservation on Passamaquoddy Bay on the northern Maine coast. The vote was 193 to 132, in what Tribal Representative (to the state legislature) Fred Moore III said was the highest turnout ever for a special election.

Greater development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and pipeline facilities in the U.S. and overseas could provide the incentive for energy firms to capture gas that is wasted during production as a result of flaring and venting, according to a new report issued by the congressional Government Accountability Office (GAO).

In its nearly two years of operation the U.S. portion of North Baja Pipeline has lost money so far, principally because one of its early subscribers defaulted and the capacity hasn’t been re-sold. This information was revealed in a FERC filing by Gas Transmission Northwest (GTN), the national gas pipeline portion of the former PG&E Corp. merchant energy unit that is now undergoing Chapter 11 reorganization. GTN is in the process of being sold to TransCanada.

Although it inched higher to start the week, the natural gas futures market lacked the buying oomph Monday to match crude oil in achieving new highs. The June natural gas contract finished at $6.424, up 2.3 cents for the session, but down nearly a dime from its highs last week. At 81,876, estimated volume was moderate, suggesting the there was ample selling to repel the buying interest.

Following a near-fatal collapse two years ago, Dynegy Inc. has been shedding assets and restructuring, and the lost business was evident in the company’s first quarter report last week. Its smaller power generation business was off 35% from a year ago, and the discontinued energy risk management unit also reported huge losses.

Despite its effort to move past the restructuring period it started more than a year ago, Dynegy Inc. lost ground in the first quarter, with its power generation business down 35% and a huge loss in its energy risk management unit. The Houston-based company reported net income of $74 million (15 cents/share), down from $147 million (17 cents) in 1Q2003, and revenue fell to $1.66 billion from $1.88 billion.

TransCanada Corp. lost its appeal of the National Energy Board’s (NEB) “Fair Return” decision (RH-R-1-2002), which turned a deaf ear to the pipeline’s concerns about competition and an inadequate rate of return given its market risks.