Michael

California’s Gov. Gray Davis Tuesday prepared for the New Year by re-appointing Michael Peevey, 64, to the California Public Utilities Commission and appointing his current cabinet secretary, Susan Kennedy, 42, to another spot on the five-member CPUC. Both are appointed to six-year terms and their new positions are subject to state Senate confirmation.

Canada’s Ambassador to the United States, Michael Kergin, urged Congress last week to reject the Alaska pipeline route restrictions that were approved the prior week by the Energy Conference Committee as part of the energy bill (see NGI, Sept. 16). Speaking at RBC Financial Group’s Distinguished Speakers Series at the Metropolitan Club in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, the ambassador also expressed Canada’s opposition to proposed subsidies for Alaskan gas production. A vote on the subsidies and other tax-related provisions will be the committee’s last major task on the bill.

Canada’s Ambassador to the United States, Michael Kergin, urged Congress Wednesday to reject the Alaska pipeline route restrictions that were approved last week by the Energy Conference Committee as part of the energy bill (see Daily GPI, Sept. 13). Speaking at RBC Financial Group’s Distinguished Speakers Series at the Metropolitan Club in Washington, DC, the ambassador also expressed Canada’s opposition to proposed subsidies for Alaskan gas production. A vote on the subsidies and other tax-related provisions has been delayed by the committee.

Former Enron executive Michael Kopper is expected to plead guilty to criminal conspiracy charges Wednesday for his role in the Enron scandal and return an estimated $12 million that he pocketed from illegal partnership deals, according to published sources.

On top of asking the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to turn over financial records on the once high-flying Enron Corp., two House panels have fired off letters to Chairman and CEO Kenneth Lay and former CFO Andrew S. Fastow seeking mounds of financial information related to the off-balance sheet entities that sparked the free-fall in the energy trader’s stock, and further interviews with key players who may possess critical information about the corporation’s financial collapse.

Michael C. Morgan has been elected president of Kinder Morgan Inc., Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP and Kinder Morgan Management, LLC. Morgan will become the third member of the Office of the Chairman, joining Richard D. Kinder, chairman and CEO, and William V. Morgan, vice chairman. “Mike has been a core member of our senior management team since the company was formed in February of 1997, and he has demonstrated outstanding leadership and strategic acumen in spearheading Kinder Morgan’s acquisition efforts,” Kinder said. He noted KMP has made 23 accretive acquisitions totaling more than $5 billion in the past four and one-half years. Going forward William Morgan said earnings growth would “come half from internal growth and half from additional acquisitions. Mike Morgan served as vice president of strategy and investor relations from January of 2000 to the present, and as vice president of corporate development from 1997 to 2000. He previously worked in McKinsey & Co.’s energy practice and for PSI Energy, Inc.

FPL Energy LLC reported that it has appointed Michael O’Sullivan as senior vice president of development for the independent power producer, a subsidiary of FPL Group Inc. O’Sullivan previously served as a vice president of AES Great Plains Inc., the Midwestern division of The AES Corp. FPL said that prior to joining AES in 1999, O’Sullivan was a vice president of NRG North America, a unit of NRG Energy, Inc., now an affiliate of Xcel Corp. He was responsible for business development, project finance and asset management. He also has held a variety of project development, management and engineering positions with Indeck Energy Services and Commonwealth Edison Company.

Gasco Energy Inc. has appointed Michael Decker to the positions of COO and executive vice president. Decker has 24 years of oil and gas prospecting, mergers and acquisitions, development and operations experience. He is also chairman of the Potential Gas Committee, an independent group that provides estimates and reports on the nation’s long-range gas supply. Decker is the past vice president of exploitation with Prima Energy Corp., a Denver-based independent oil and gas company. Decker is also currently the owner and president of Black Diamond Energy, a geological engineering, operations, prospecting and merger and acquisition consulting firm. Gasco Energy is a Denver-based natural gas and oil exploration and development company that focuses in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The company currently holds interests in properties located in the Uinta Basin of northeastern Utah, which are being developed through an agreement with Phillips Petroleum.

Westcoast CEO Michael Phelps said last week the company is planning to double the capacity of the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline system to transport more than 1.2 Bcf/d in five years but expects an additional expansion to 2 Bcf/d by the end of the decade.