Majority

While indicating a majority will back suspension of the state’s retail direct access, California regulators Wednesday indicated they will delay taking action on the controversial measure until next Tuesday at the request of the state Assembly speaker, who is looking at some legislative options that involve the retail customer choice issue. That is the latest the decision can be held off without beginning to impede the current schedule for the state’s upcoming long-term electricity bond issue, according to Loretta Lynch, president of the California Public Utilities Commission.

A majority of those surveyed believe that California’s troubled energy situation will continue to deteriorate in the short-term and that the state’s ongoing woes will prove to be a drag on the national economy, according to Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC).

A majority of Americans who responded to a recent nationwide poll believe that California’s troubled energy situation will continue to deteriorate in the short-term and that the state’s ongoing woes will prove to be a drag on the national economy, according to Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC).

George Mitchell, the philanthropic-minded CEO and majority stakeholder of The Woodlands, TX-based Mitchell Energy & Development Co., is putting 4.5 million of his company shares on the block to improve the company’s liquidity and reduce his ownership to under 50%. The secondary offering would leave the 82-year-old with 22.9 million shares — about 45.5% of the independent company he founded.

George Mitchell, the philanthropic-minded CEO and majority stakeholder of The Woodlands, TX-based Mitchell Energy & Development Co., said this week he is putting 4.5 million of his company shares on the block to improve the company’s liquidity and reduce his ownership to under 50%. The secondary offering would leave the 82-year-old with 22.9 million shares — about 45.5% of the independent company he founded.

In what would be described in meteorological terms as a blizzardof proposals, California Gov. Gray Davis and his Democraticmajority state Assembly leaders Thursday announced multiple newlaws to push accelerated generation and conservation efforts thatare envisioned to unfold at a frenetic pace in the weeks and monthsahead.

It was a no-brainer to predict Thursday’s plunging market. Amajority of price losses were between 80 cents and a dollar, aschilly but seasonally mild weather prevailed in most areas, thescreen continued to go south and traders perceived AGA’s Wednesdayafternoon storage withdrawal report of 167 Bcf as a below-parvolume.

There was almost no consistency in price movements Wednesday,although a slight majority of the changes were downward. Rises andfalls mixed with each other in the Gulf Coast andMidcontinent/Midwest.

A target of May 1 has been set to complete a review, and a pollsuggests the majority is receptive to change, but gas hunters stillface an uphill effort to remove a moratorium from a highly-ratedexploration target offshore of Canada’s West Coast.