Millions

The $10-12 billion omnibus lands package, which would remove millions of acres of public lands as prospects for potential oil and natural gas development, appears to be stuck in the House over procedural issues.

FERC last Thursday set a paper hearing on a remand of a long-running case centered on millions of dollars in Enron-era wholesale power contracts that western power companies protested tied them to artificially high prices. The Commission action came just 14 days after it officially received the remand of its decision to uphold the contracts. The paper hearing will be held in abeyance, however, while parties attempt a settlement of the seven-year old case.

The question of what to do about millions of dollars in refunds from the 2000-2001 energy crisis was passed back to FERC last Thursday by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals with instructions to regulators to reconsider their decision in conformance with a U.S. Supreme Court decision last June regarding the long-term power contracts (see NGI, June 30).

Just days after the Bank of Montreal reported losses in the millions due to wrong-way natural gas bets, Juno Beach, FL-based FPL Group Inc. said last week that 1Q2007 earnings suffered from a net unrealized after-tax loss of $126 million associated with the mark-to-market effect of nonqualifying commodity hedges.

Just days after the Bank of Montreal reported losses in the millions due to wrong-way natural gas bets, Juno Beach, FL-based FPL Group Inc. Monday said 1Q2007 earnings suffered from a net unrealized after-tax loss of $126 million associated with the mark-to-market effect of nonqualifying commodity hedges.

Even as it eyes hundreds of millions of dollars of additional generation and transmission projects outside of California, Pacific Gas and Electric is going to “stick to its knitting,” which means bread-and-butter natural gas and electricity utility distribution, transmission and generation, according to remarks Tuesday by PG&E Corp. CEO Peter Darbee at the Merrill Lynch Global Power and Gas Leaders Conference in New York City.

Even as it eyes hundreds of millions of dollars of additional generation and transmission projects outside of California, Pacific Gas and Electric is going to “stick to its knitting,” which means bread-and-butter natural gas and electricity utility distribution, transmission and generation, according to remarks Tuesday by PG&E Corp. CEO Peter Darbee at the Merrill Lynch Global Power and Gas Leaders Conference in New York City.

The Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) is disputing published allegations that top agency officials blocked auditors from recovering millions of dollars in oil and natural gas royalties from producers.

The Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) is disputing published allegations that top agency officials blocked auditors from recovering millions of dollars in oil and natural gas royalties from producers.