Packed

Before a packed crowd at FERC last Thursday, scores of energy industry and publication executives proposed improvements in the system of collecting and compiling index prices for natural gas. Nearly everybody agreed that the current system is broken, but they were sharply divided over how to reform it. Energy publishers said their price indexes can and are being fixed. Critics, however, weren’t satisfied and said a complete overhaul was in order. The flaws in the system have been magnified by the “bright light being shown on the process” in the wake of charges that traders had manipulated the published indexes for years.

Before a packed crowd at FERC Thursday, scores of energy industry and publication executives proposed improvements in the system of collecting and compiling index prices for natural gas. Flaws in the system have been magnified by a “bright light being shown on the process” in the wake of charges that traders manipulated the indexes.

Pipelines across the nation were packed with gas last week, storage rose 7 Bcf to 3,107 Bcf, or 94% full, and mild temperatures cut demand virtually to zero. Gas prices Friday for weekend flows plummeted as much as 50 cents at some western locations to the lowest marks seen since 1996. Many locations averaged 30-40 cent declines on top of 40 cent drops the day prior, and with a long holiday weekend coming up and only slightly cooler weather expected in most markets, many traders and marketers feared the spot market still could lose significant ground in the days ahead.

In a packed courtroom filled with anxious creditors, a federal bankruptcy judge gave the Pacific Gas & Electric utility the authority Tuesday to make payments to customers and suppliers of both gas and electricity, and set a hearing for April 18 on the utility’s request for an injunction against state regulators’ orders for accounting changes related to past electricity stranded cost collections of billions of dollars.

Before a packed crowd of the Who’s Who in Washington, D.C.energy circles, Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-AK) and other SenateRepublicans last week touted their omnibus energy legislation asboth “sound” and “well balanced.” The mix of tax credits,incentives, royalty relief and other measures offered in the bill,they vowed, will reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil toless than 50% by 2010 by increasing domestic production ofconventional energy fuels and improving energy efficiency andconservation.

Before a packed crowd of the Who’s Who in Washington, D.C.energy circles, Senate leaders yesterday formally introduced theirlong-awaited comprehensive legislation aimed at boosting domesticsupplies of conventional energy fuels and improving energyefficiency and conservation efforts in the nation.