Offers

California state and local officials Thursday reviewed a new proposal from Houston-based Reliant Energy offering lower emergency spot market power prices in exchange for letting up on air emission restrictions that limit the hours of operation annually to some of Reliant’s power plants along the coast in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

As bandwidth trading moves from idea to reality, its evolution is looking more like the development of trading in the power and natural gas markets, according to Nick Cioll, senior vice-president for trading operations at RateXchange. Cioll spoke last Wednesday at NGI’s GasMart/Power 2001 conference in Tampa, FL. He was joined by Louis Hunsucker, a bandwidth trader with Williams Communications, on a panel called “The Complete Utility: Adding Broadband.”

As bandwidth trading moves from idea to reality, its evolution is looking more like the development of trading in the power and natural gas markets, according to Nick Cioll, senior vice-president for trading operations at RateXchange. Cioll spoke yesterday at NGI’s GasMart/Power 2001 conference in Tampa, FL. Cioll was joined by Louis Hunsucker, a bandwidth trader with Williams Communications, on a panel called “The Complete Utility: Adding Broadband.”

Union Gas Ltd. is offering between 1-2 Bcf of peak storage capacity at its Dawn market hub for injection this summer and withdrawals during the coming winter season.

Bidding is expected to be high for two Minerals Management Service Gulf of Mexico sales this summer, one that focuses on a region of the Central Gulf that has been a no man’s land for exploration and production, and another in the Western Gulf. Part of the attraction will be the added incentives for drillers, which MMS is using to increase domestic oil and gas production.

Bidding is expected to be high for two Minerals Management Service Gulf of Mexico sales this summer, one that focuses on a region of the Central Gulf that has been a no man’s land for exploration and production, and another in the Western Gulf. Part of the attraction will be the added incentives for drillers, which MMS is using to increase domestic oil and gas production.

In an open letter to the governor of California, Vincent Viola,the new chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange suggested thestate could solve its power price problems if it “promptly” turnedloose large customers and let them buy power for themselves,eliminated any monopoly, “be it the PX, Department of WaterResources, or the Independent System Operator,” and started usingfinancial instruments to protect consumers, rather than lock inlong-term, high-priced contracts.

The pace of stopgap measures for California’s expected powershortages this summer picked up Tuesday with the governorannouncing rebates to customers cutting their summer power use by20% and Calpine Corp. striking an immediate two-month deal forproviding 550 MW to southern California markets starting todaythrough May 15. The short-term power pact is an interim one withthe state water resources department.

The Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) hasannounced that the OCS Lease Sale 178 planned for the central Gulfof Mexico will offer producers a mix of incentives to encourageultra-deep-water exploration and development for both natural gasand crude oil.