Nine

While admitting its election came too late to ameliorate the Mackenzie Gas Project’s (MGP) regulatory ordeal, Canada’s nine-month-old Conservative government is vowing to make life easier for developments the northern pipeline is expected to inaugurate.

While admitting its election came too late to ameliorate the Mackenzie Gas Project’s (MGP) regulatory ordeal, Canada’s nine-month-old Conservative government is vowing to make life easier for developments the northern pipeline is expected to inaugurate.

In talks with executives from nine exploration and production (E&P) companies, analysts at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. Inc. found that the drop in commodity prices is “being taken in stride but caution abounds.”

In talks with the managements of nine companies in their exploration and production (E&P) universe, analysts at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. Inc. found that the drop in commodity prices is “being taken in stride but caution abounds.”

California regulators Thursday unanimously agreed to revise a nine-month-old investigation of utility holding companies now that the federal Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA) has been repealed. Thursday’s action by the five-member California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) alters the scope and schedule for looking at utility holding companies and the relationships among subsidiaries — both utilities and nonutilities.

Over nine weeks, the government has built a case against Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay and ex-CEO Jeffrey Skilling brick-by-brick, with more than 20 witnesses claiming the men not only knew about the problems at the company but also took an active part in deceiving shareholders, Wall Street and the media about its true financial condition. On Monday, the defense teams will attempt to chip away at the testimony piece by piece.

In some of the most explosive testimony in the nine-week-old fraud and conspiracy trial of Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay and ex-CEO Jeffrey Skilling, former treasurer Ben Glisan Jr. last week told jurors Lay and Skilling lied on several occasions to investors and analysts about the true financial condition of the company. In one instance, Glisan recounted how Lay asked him to determine Enron’s total 3Q2001 losses by first determining what amount would lower the company’s credit rating.

An apparent drop in Texas natural gas production over the first nine months of 2005 compared to that period in 2004 is just not so. It can be explained by companies falling behind in reporting, according to a spokesperson with the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC). Reporting was delayed for producers affected by Katrina, and several other large operators also are behind in reporting, Ramona Nye said. Numbers posted on the RRC website for the first three quarters of 2005 show production of 4,162 Bcf of gas, compared to 4,496 Bcf a year earlier. “Production is not down. There are a number of them that haven’t gotten their reports in.” The numbers continue to be adjusted for about six months after they are first posted. “They always go up,” Nye said.

The nine-member Louisiana congressional delegation is expected to offer legislation later this week that would give Gulf Coast producing states a share of federal revenues from offshore oil and natural gas production to help with recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.