Pondering

Only two-years after winning its hard-fought battle to acquire Portland General Electric, Enron Corp. President Jeffrey K. Skilling last week said the company is considering “alternatives” for the electric utility.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. of Los Angeles is reviewing itsinvestment in Canadian Occidental Petroleum Ltd. and consideringall options, the company said. Oxy’s investment in CanadianOxy ofCalgary dates back to 1971, and Occidental currently owns 40.2million shares, or about 29%, of the company’s outstanding commonshares.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. of Los Angeles is reviewing itsinvestment in Canadian Occidental Petroleum Ltd. and consideringall options, the company said. Oxy’s investment in CanadianOxy ofCalgary dates back to 1971, and Occidental currently owns 40.2million shares, or about 29%, of the company’s outstanding commonshares.

Electronic trading may be the antidote to anemic trading of theNew York Mercantile Exchange’s Alberta and Permian Basin gasfutures contracts, Exchange President R. Patrick Thompson said lastweek.

Unicom Corp.’s 2,698 MW Collins gas-fired power station could goup for sale as well as 1,396 MW of peaking units. A sale of theplants would mark the company’s exit from non-nuclear generation.As of Nov. 29, the gas plants burned nearly 45 million Btu of gassince the first of the year, a spokeswoman said.