Parties

Chiming in on an ongoing dispute that has all parties involved in need of a few aspirin, Bayer Corp. said Thursday that it is urging the U.S. Congress and the Bush administration to lift restrictions on natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico and the Outer Continental shelf and to encourage more natural gas supplies from Canada.

Five major energy companies are the majority of the private-sector firms signing a consent decree with California state officials Thursday to clean up a 38-acre toxic waste site in Huntington Beach, CA, that was abandoned nearly 20 years ago and has sat vacant. Gov. Gray Davis announced the agreement, calling it a “significant achievement.”

In a complaint filed at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week, Pan-Alberta Gas (US) Inc. (PAGUS) and Mirant Americas Energy Marketing L.P. accused Enron-affiliated Northern Border Pipeline Co. of trying to “subvert” their rights to match competing third-party bids for pipeline capacity under the right-of-first refusal (ROFR) process.

The National Energy Board is seeking feedback from interested parties on a discussion paper outlining its proposed Appropriate Dispute Resolution (ADR) program. The document describes options for settling disputes as an addition to the board’s traditional regulatory process. The board is welcoming the public’s input, comments and questions on all aspects of the design of the program and the contents of the ADR document. Comments received by Nov. 5 will assist in developing program guidelines. The ADR discussion paper are available on the board’s web site at www.neb-one.gc.ca under “What’s New.”

CornerStone Propane Partners LP said a significant number of parties have expressed interest in buying or merging with the company, but it is formulating a parallel plan in the event a sale or merger is not realized to manage its debt obligations. The company said it shut down its wholesale natural gas marketing operations, which were conducted by Coast Energy Group (CEG). It reported a quarterly loss of $9.7 million or 40 cents per unit compared with net income of $11.6 million or 48 cents per unit in the same quarter in 2000.

Okeanos Gas Gathering Co., LLC began an open season Thursday for parties who want to obtain capacity on its 24-inch, 1 Bcf/d gathering system that is being built in the Gulf of Mexico. The open season will run through Sept. 7.

A proposal calling on FERC to conduct a formal investigation into wholesale power rates in western markets has been stripped out of the emergency legislation that was introduced Friday by Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) of the House Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee.

Power marketers and other suppliers to the California market got a major boost last week when FERC ordered the state’s independent system operator (Cal-ISO) to assure payment for all third-party energy sales made to the state transmission coordinator.

Growing demand and limited gas transportation capacity in theTidewater area of southeastern Virginia, northeastern NorthCarolina and southeastern Maryland prompted Columbia GasTransmission to test the market for a pipeline expansion in thatarea.