Monitor

Nearly 82% of senior technology executives claim to closely monitor the issue of global warming, but 65% do not have a defined energy strategy to deal with it, according to a global survey by Hill & Knowlton Inc. And of those surveyed, 77% believe there is a need to expand the executive or “C-Suite” to include a chief energy officer to manage, implement and measure a company’s return on investment in environmental technology, or return on environment (ROE).

Sparked by natural gas futures gains through Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Northeast and Louisiana points mostly posted single-digit gains Friday, while low gas demand and moderate temperatures allowed most of the market to shed anywhere from a couple of pennies to 83 cents, with the largest drops coming from the Midcontinent and the West.

Texas Eastern noted that in a letter dated Nov. 10, 2005, it had informed all firm storage customers that it would monitor storage activity and, if necessary, issue customer-specific OFOs to those who exceeded their recommended maximum withdrawal limits. The first period in the recommended withdrawal plans ended Dec. 31, and on Wednesday Texas Eastern issued five customer-specific OFOs, that will take effect Jan. 9. The orders require an affected customer to deliver its contract’s firm transportation MDQ (Maximum Daily Quantity) “under Rate Schedules CDS, FT-1 and SCT, as applicable, in the most downstream zone of delivery to the maximum extent contractually feasible prior to utilizing storage services.” Texas Eastern said the OFOs will be canceled when customer inventories are restored to planned levels.

Recalling an Oct. 31, 2003 letter in which Texas Eastern notified firm storage customers that it would monitor their activity and, if necessary, issue customer-specific OFOs to those who exceeded recommended maximum withdrawal limits, the pipeline said it had issued such OFOs “at the end of each withdrawal period throughout the winter of 2003/2004.” The orders remained in effect unless specifically canceled by Texas Eastern when customers injected the required volumes to bring them back into compliance with the storage tariff. However, Texas Eastern said it canceled all individual OFOs Monday after having “determined that based on current inventory levels and forecast withdrawals, the individual storage OFOs are no longer necessary to preserve storage deliverability to meet firm withdrawal entitlements.”

A Houston-based consulting company, International Gas Consulting (IGC), has proposed a way for government and the market to monitor price surveys by publications without interrupting the current process or disrupting the market.

A Houston-based consulting company, International Gas Consulting (IGC), has proposed a way for government and the market to monitor price surveys by publications without interrupting the current process or disrupting the market.

The latest developments in the Enron case include the appointment of an examiner to monitor cash flows at Enron North America, reports that Arthur Andersen is seeking a total settlement of claims against the accounting firm relating to Enron, and statements by Enron’s interim CEO Stephen Cooper that the bankrupt company is planning a “broad legal assault” against individuals who forced the company into bankruptcy.

Anxious Houston-based employees Friday were waiting for formal news that their employer, Enron Corp., had filed for bankruptcy, expected to be the largest in U.S. history, and waited to learn whether layoffs will begin in the United States as they have in Europe. Across the country, others kept an eye on whether Enron would file a lawsuit against its short-term merger partner Dynegy Corp. for backing out of the transaction last week. Meanwhile, companies that had once dealt with the former trend-setting energy trader began tallying their own expected losses should Enron go under, and in Washington, DC, legislators announced they would begin investigating exactly who knew what when.

This represents a new kind of approach by the Commission to the market, “which is that we’re acting not reacting,” said Commissioner Nora Brownell. The creation of this mechanism does not necessarily mean FERC has seen a “pattern of abuse” by pipelines that would warrant “more vigorous pursuit” of OFO activity, she noted. “We are simply setting up the mechanisms by which we will know them [OFO abuses] when we see them and be able to deal with them.”