Profile

Coming off record 2005 profits approaching a billion dollars, San Diego-based Sempra Energy is looking to solidify more of its high-profile natural gas projects in the weeks and months ahead with cash from some of its ongoing merchant electricity sector sales, according to CEO Donald Felsinger.

Supported by the unmistakable profile of speculative fund buying, the natural gas futures market made it three in a row Wednesday as prices soared to their highest levels in nearly two months. After quickly filling in a gap on the daily chart, the January contract worked its way higher throughout the trading session on a steady diet of short-covering.

Although its higher profile energy scouting work these days involves potential wind generation sites, PPM Energy, the Portland, OR-based merchant energy operator in the United States for UK-based ScottishPower, is actively looking to buy or develop natural gas storage facilities. And the company is not confining its interest to the Pacific Northwest, according to company officials.

Although its higher profile energy scouting work these days involves potential wind generation sites, PPM Energy, the Portland, OR-based merchant energy operator in the United States for UK-based ScottishPower, is actively looking to buy or develop natural gas storage facilities. And the company is not confining its interest to the Pacific Northwest, according to company officials.

In a significant victory for federal prosecutors who are pursuing other high-profile fraud cases post-Enron, a Houston jury late Thursday convicted former Dynegy Inc. executive Jamie Olis, 37, on six counts of fraud.

The high-profile National Petroleum Council (NPC) study on natural gas has a “significant flaw” in that it overstated the potential impact of energy policy changes on future gas supply and demand, while it “virtually ignores” the effect of markets and prices on supply-demand, according to a Washington, DC-based energy consultant.

The high-profile National Petroleum Council (NPC) study on natural gas has a “significant flaw” in that it overstated the potential impact of energy policy changes on future gas supply and demand, but it “virtually ignores” the effect of markets and prices on supply-demand, according to a Washington, DC-based energy consultant.

Even before the utility-state regulators bankruptcy settlement emerged, a high profile state legislative proposal (SB 173) to address what some lawmakers perceived as “unreliable” energy price indexes failed to move from its house of origin in the California Senate to the legislature’s lower house assembly. The failure to meet the June 6 state legislative deadline renders the proposal virtually dead for this year with the possibility it could re-emerge next year as a so-called “two-year bill.”

Recent gas injection trends and a re-assessment of the reduced reward/risk profile of the oil and gas drilling sector have led analysts with RBC Capital Markets to assume a cautious stance on certain energy stocks through this year.