Regulatory

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission signaled a key shift in its policy on negotiated transactions Tuesday, saying now it will require pipelines negotiating individual deals that include “material deviations” from their form of service agreements to offer the service to other similarly situated shippers on their systems.

Ohio retail gas marketers will have to undergo new regulatory scrutiny, according to rules adopted by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio on Tuesday. Under the new rules all retail marketers will have to file balance sheets, credit ratings and other relevant financial information among other requirements in order to obtain certification by the PUCO. Up to this point, retail marketers have been allowed to operate without certification.

A subsidiary of Duke Energy’s Market Hub Partners (MHP) last week asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the preliminary go-ahead to develop an underground natural gas storage facility in Copiah County, MS.

Kansas City, MO-based UtiliCorp United Inc. has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for authorization “as soon as practicable” to re-acquire the nearly 20% interest in its natural gas and power marketer, Aquila Inc., that it sold to the public earlier in the year. Upon the completion of the transaction, the company plans to adopt Aquila as its corporate name possibly as early as the first quarter of 2002.

A subsidiary of Duke Energy’s Market Hub Partners (MHP) has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the preliminary go-ahead to develop an underground natural gas storage facility in Copiah County, MS.

In a deal that began with a phone call from one chairman of the board to another a day after Enron Corp’s third quarter earnings were released, Dynegy Inc. and Enron agreed to merge on Friday in a transaction estimated to be worth about $22 billion. In the process, Enron will lose its once stellar name, while the new company, which will keep the Dynegy trademark, will become the largest energy trading and marketing company in the world, with revenues expected to exceed $200 billion. The combined company also would have about $90 billion in assets. Through the third quarter of 2001, the two companies had gas sales of about 40 Bcf/d and power sales exceeding 500 million MWh, and their combined assets include more than 22,000 MW of generating capacity and 25,000 miles of pipe.

Independence Pipeline told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week it still has not gained access to sections of its proposed right of way in Ohio because of landowner opposition. It also lacks contracts for the required 68% of its proposed 1 Bcf/d of firm capacity. Only about 38% so far has been subscribed, all of it by Dynegy Corp. As a result, pipeline sponsors request that the project in-service date be delayed until November 2004 from July 2003. Extensions also were requested for the related SupplyLink project sponsored by ANR Pipeline.

The motion by the enforcement staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a “more complete investigation” of unused capacity on the system of El Paso Natural Gas is “an abuse of process,” the pipeline and its merchant energy affiliate claimed Thursday, since it comes after the case has been fully litigated.

Independence Pipeline told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Thursday it still has not gained access to parts of its proposed right of way in Ohio because of landowner opposition and also lacks contracts for the required 68% of its proposed 1 Bcf/d of firm capacity. Only about 38% so far has been subscribed, all of it by Dynegy Corp. As a result, pipeline sponsors request that the project in-service date be delayed until November 2004 from July 2003. Extensions also were requested for the related SupplyLink project sponsored by ANR Pipeline.