Probably

Technological changes and the natural gas industry probably willdo more to push electric industry restructuring than Congress orfederal regulators ever do, according to Washington, DC-basedrepresentatives for a national group for large energy consumers andthe electric utility industry’s trade association, speaking at theGasMart/Power 2000 meeting in Denver earlier this month.

Technological changes and the natural gas industry probably willdo more to push electric industry restructuring than Congress orfederal regulators ever do, according to Washington, DC-basedrepresentatives for a national group for large energy consumers andthe electric utility industry’s trade association, speaking at theGasMart/Power 2000 meeting in Denver last week.

The New York Mercantile Exchange’s (Nymex) natural gas pitprobably will be a lot more active and may be more efficient onWednesdays, starting March 1. The exchange along with several majormarket players have convinced the American Gas Association to moveup by two hours the release of its influential gas storage report.

The New York Mercantile Exchange’s (Nymex) natural gas pitprobably will be a lot more active on Wednesdays, starting March 1.The exchange, along with several major market players, hasconvinced the American Gas Association to move up by two hours therelease of its influential gas storage report.

Although gas supply and power contracts probably won’t be signeduntil next year, California’s first major merchant generation plantis expected to get its final state regulatory approval next weekand break ground this summer north of Sacramento in Sutter Countynear the agricultural town of Yuba City. A set of environmentalconcessions by the project sponsor, San Jose, CA-based CalpineCorp., pushed it into the lead spot among seven other projectsundergoing the state regulatory approval process. Projectfinancing, gas supply contracts and power supply deals will all bewrapped up in the second and third quarters of 2000, according toCalpine’s Sutter project manager, Curt Hildebrand.

The promise of retail energy marketing, but probably not thecurrent results, seems to be providing enough support to the gasand power marketing community that few have decided to exit thebusiness, according to the results of Benjamin Schlesinger andAssociates’ 12th edition of its Directory of Energy MarketingService Companies.