Opens

When a portion of Mexico’s gas-rich Burgos Basin opens to foreign investment as expected later this year, the progress of investment and development will be a critical test case for both foreign industry and the Mexican government, according to the authors of a new research report by Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA).

Two weeks after announcing its intentions to acquire the remaining shares of Pure Resources Inc., El Segundo, CA-based Unocal Corp. last Thursday said it has commenced the exchange offer to the shareholders of Pure. Under the offer, Unocal said it is seeking the 35% of outstanding common stock in the company that it does not already own.

Armed with “preliminary evidence” of manipulation of prices for short-term electric and natural gas markets in western markets, FERC launched formal investigations last week into the potentially illegal pricing activities of three Enron Corp. affiliates — Portland General Electric, Enron Power Marketing and Enron Capital and Trade Resources Corp. — and El Paso Electric, Avista Corp. and marketing affiliate Avista Energy to determine the extent of any wrongdoing and the type of disciplinary actions warranted.

Firing back at a request by a Washington state public utility district for FERC to void a long-term power supply contract it has with American Electric Power Service Corp. (AEP), the Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA) last week filed a motion to intervene, charging the request attempts to “piggyback” on a “wave of complaints” to abrogate western contracts, which now threaten to overwhelm FERC and the power industry [Docket No. EL02-100-000].

As if the investigations facing them and other western suppliers at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission weren’t enough, energy giants El Paso Corp. and Duke Energy confirmed Friday that they have received informal inquiries from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about their round-trip, or “wash,” trading activities.

Ontario’s Independent Electricity Market Operator (IMO) successfully opened the province’s competitive electricity marketplace at midnight on May 1, and began calculating market-clearing prices every five minutes for the 239 participants. The new market, run by the IMO, has more than 200 participants, including 93 local distribution companies, 89 industrial consumers, 19 generators, 34 wholesale buyers/sellers and four transmitters.

After going on an acquisition binge over the past couple of years, Oklahoma City, OK-based Devon Energy Corp. has switched gears and plans to shed up to $1.5 billion in properties in North America and overseas to reduce its ballooning debt by mid-2002.

After going on an acquisition binge over the past couple of years, Oklahoma City, OK-based Devon Energy Corp. has switched gears and plans to shed up to $1.5 billion in properties in North America and overseas to reduce its ballooning debt by mid-2002.

A 40-year-old obstacle to expanding natural gas operations offshore of Canada’s East Coast was removed last week when an arbitration panel settled a boundary dispute between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. While it’s not expected to ignite an immediate drilling rush, the settlement spelled an end to an exploration freeze in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and opened up new areas for issuing resource leases in the future.