Regulations

New regulations for the derivatives markets will not prevent future corporate failures similar to Enron Corp.’s and in fact might make failures more likely in the future, according to a new report by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), a global trade association representing participants in the privately negotiated derivatives industry, which includes interest rate, currency, commodity, credit and equity swaps, as well as related products.

A recent national electricity transmission study conducted by Analysis Group/Economics Inc. found that it generally would be less expensive to locate power generation closer to consumers and build natural gas pipelines when needed, than to build generation near the gas fields and transmit the power to consumers located farther away.

Salt Lake City-based Questar Corp. went out to bid earlier this month on four new compressors to complete its conversion work on the east-of-California portion of its 705-mile Southern Trails Pipeline from the San Juan Basin to the Long Beach port area of Southern California. The portion of the converted oil pipeline between the California border and the Four Corners Area in New Mexico will open June 1 next year, a Questar spokesman said.

Salt Lake City-based Questar Corp. went out to bid earlier this month on four new compressors to complete its conversion work on the east-of-California portion of its 705-mile Southern Trails Pipeline from the San Juan Basin to the Long Beach port area of Southern California. The portion of the converted oil pipeline between the California border and the Four Corners Area in New Mexico will open June 1 next year, a Questar spokesman said Monday.

Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioners Wednesday agreed to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking broadening the application of standards of conduct for transmission providers, including both natural gas pipelines and power lines, to require separation of the regulated monopolies from any other company affiliate.

Stacey L. Gerard has been named associate administrator for theDepartment of Transportation’s Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS). Shepreviously was director of the Office of Policy, Regulations andTraining in the OPS.

The calls for FERC to make changes to Order 497’s pipelineaffiliate abuse regulations got louder late last week, as Dynegyand Amoco filed some suggested remedies in response to the resultsof an April technical conference on four negotiated parking andlending (PAL) agreements between Koch Gateway and its affiliateKoch Energy Trading (KET).

A plea by two Enron affiliates for a limited waiver of thecapacity-release regulations and the “shipper must have title”policy is being met, at least initially, with opposition from thenatural gas industry.

Atlanta Gas Light’s plea for limited waivers of FERC’scapacity-release regulations and other rules has drawn a howl ofprotests from producers. The Georgia-based LDC is seeking thewaivers to “facilitate” its application to unbundle itsdistribution services, which currently is pending before thestate’s Public Service Commission.