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While many might say it’s long overdue, FERC last weekauthorized its staff to undertake a “fact-finding investigation”into the wild price volatility and reliability problems that havegripped the bulk power markets over the past couple of summers.

FERC needs to dust off and review its landmark gas restructuringrule, Order 636, to get to the root of many of the reliabilityproblems in the bulk power market, say industrial power customersand a utility/marketer.

Despite expectations for further weakening in natural gasfutures yesterday, the market surprised many observers by movingsharply higher after the American Gas Association reported a secondconsecutive weekly 78 Bcf increase in gas storage levels.

PG&E Corp. is the latest energy giant to seek a toehold inthe fast-growing Arizona merchant power plant market, gaining aninitial state approval last week, but facing up to a half-dozencounty, state and federal environmental reviews for a proposed $500million, 1,040 MW natural gas-fired plant near Phoenix.

Enron Energy Services continues its quest to shore up energymanagement agreements with as many customers as it can. On theheels of an announcement Tuesday that it had signed a 10-yearagreement with Prudential Insurance of America, the Enron Corp.subsidiary announced Wednesday that it had pocketed a $1 billion,10-year energy agreement with the U.S. facilities of QuebecorWorld, the world’s largest commercial printer. The agreementexpands Enron’s original $250 million five-year contract with WorldColor Press, signed in 1998. World Color Press was purchased byQuebecor Printing Inc. last August.

Enron Energy Services continues its quest to shore up energymanagement agreements with as many customers as it can. On theheels of Tuesday’s announcement that it had signed a 10-yearagreement with Prudential Insurance of America, the Enron Corp.subsidiary announced yesterday that it had pocketed a $1 billion,10-year energy agreement with the U.S. facilities of QuebecorWorld, the world’s largest commercial printer. The agreementexpands Enron’s original $250 million five-year contract with WorldColor Press, signed in 1998. World Color Press was purchased byQuebecor Printing Inc. last August.

Price spikes, volatility, tight margins and stiff competitionhave prompted many energy marketers to reconsider their positionsand strategy, and this is causing changes in the energy marketingarena as a whole, according to a new report by Frost &Sullivan.

Price spikes, volatility, tight margins and stiff competitionhave prompted many energy marketers to reconsider their positionsand strategy, and this is causing changes in the energy marketingarena as a whole, according to a new report by Frost &Sullivan.

Despite a Wednesday afternoon storage report that many tradersconsidered modestly bullish, most prices fell by up to a nickelThursday. California and a few Rockies and South Texas points, withflat to slightly higher showings, defied the overall trend.