Managers

Stock brokers, money managers and wealthy coupon-clippers cried foul, but cooler heads predicted natural gas industry activity and supplies will emerge as winners from a surprise move to tax income trusts by the Canadian government.

Green Bay, WI-based WPS Resources Corp. and Peoples Energy Corp. of Chicago announced the organizational structure for their proposed combined company and the managers who will fill top positions. The companies announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement on July 10 and expect the transaction to close in the first calendar quarter of 2007.

Green Bay, WI-based WPS Resources Corp. and Peoples Energy Corp. of Chicago announced the organizational structure for their proposed combined company and the managers who will fill top positions. The companies announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement on July 10 and expect the transaction to close in the first calendar quarter of 2007.

Three former trading desk managers for Kansas City, MO, natural gas and electricity provider Aquila Inc. pleaded guilty in federal court last Monday to concealing information about the reporting of false prices for natural gas trades to index publishers.

Three former trading desk managers for Kansas City, MO, natural gas and electricity provider Aquila Inc. pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to concealing information about the reporting of false prices for natural gas trades to index publishers.

BP plc’s top managers expressed confidence in the oil major’s reserves numbers during the first quarter earnings conference Tuesday, but said the company will delay “slightly” a required Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) report in order to incorporate shareholders’ comments.

A bonus and incentive plan used by Royal Dutch/Shell Group is being examined by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to determine whether it encouraged upper level management to overstate oil and gas reserves, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

CenterPoint (formerly Reliant) issued an Operational Alert to notify all shippers and pool managers that with storage levels nearing maximum capacity, as of Thursday’s gas day they must avoid long imbalances. Otherwise, “such imbalances can exacerbate [CenterPoint’s] current operational problems and may result in the future assessment of Excess Contract Quantities penalties or the issuance of OFOs.”

Two more former employees of Coastal Corp. (now part of El Paso Corp.) have been charged with stealing tens of thousands of dollars from the company through a futures profits allocation scheme. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed an administrative action against Clay Krhovjak of Bellville, TX, and Paul Cochran of Houston, charging that the two engaged in a trading scheme over a five-month period in 1996 to allocate profitable trades belonging to Coastal to accounts controlled by other unnamed scheme participants. The CFTC believes the two made off with about $89,228 in stolen profits.