Reporting

Duke Energy Corp.’s board of directors has elected Fred J. Fowler as president and chief operating officer, reporting directly to Chairman and CEO Richard B. Priory, the company announced Monday.

Duke Energy Corp.’s board of directors has elected Fred J. Fowler as president and chief operating officer, reporting directly to Chairman and CEO Richard B. Priory, the company announced Monday.

A former El Paso Corp. vice president and energy trader was indicted Wednesday on charges that he submitted price and volume information on a series of bogus natural gas trades to Platt’s Inside FERC Gas Market Report to use in calculating its index price for gas. The news caused El Paso stock to tumble for the third day in a row, sliding by about 7% to close at $7.05 a share.

Duke Energy Corp.’s board of directors has elected Fred J. Fowler as president and chief operating officer, reporting directly to Chairman and CEO Richard B. Priory, the company announced last Monday. Fowler had been the company’s group president for energy transmission since 1997, where he oversaw Duke Energy’s interstate natural gas pipelines and Duke Energy Field Services. In the “new executive role,” Fowler will be responsible for the operations of Duke Energy’s energy businesses, including Duke Power Co., Duke Energy Gas Transmission, Duke Energy Field Services, Duke Energy International, Duke Energy Trading and Marketing and Duke/Fluor Daniel, according to the Charlotte, NC-based energy company. Fowler, a veteran of the energy business for nearly 35 years, has worked at Panhandle Trading Corp., been president of Trunkline Gas Co., president of Texas Eastern Transmission Corp. and group vice president of PanEnergy Corp. Duke Energy was created in 1997 as a result of the merger of PanEnergy and Duke Power. He currently serves as chairman of the board for the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, which represents interstate gas pipelines, and serves on the board of Texas Eastern Products Pipeline Co.

The staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has updated the agency’s guidelines for reporting the results of investigations of cultural resources (i.e. historic properties), which are carried out for new pipeline projects. For details about the guideline changes, go to the Commission’s home page at http://www.ferc.fed.us.

Constellation Energy is focusing on “getting the simple things right,” Chairman Mayo A. Shattuck said, reporting that the parent of Baltimore Gas & Electric would be building customer-oriented services, including risk management, onto its expanding customer base. “We’re managing our way through the turbulent energy markets as well as any company in industry.”

Gas production looks a little thin for the third quarter with 18 companies (22% of total U.S. production) so far reporting volumes (8,865 MMcf/d) down 0.3% from the second quarter and 7.3% from year-ago levels, according to statistics compiled by Thomas Driscoll of Lehman Brothers.

Gas production looks a little thin for the third quarter with 18 companies (22% of total U.S. production) so far reporting volumes (8,865 MMcf/d) down 0.3% from the second quarter and 7.3% from year-ago levels, according to statistics compiled by Thomas Driscoll of Lehman Brothers.

Despite reporting record high second quarter oil and gas production and revenues, Oklahoma City-based Devon Energy Corp. said that lower oil and natural gas prices caused net earnings to fall below year-ago levels. In addition, “sharply lower” gas prices in Canada also resulted in a non-cash full cost ceiling adjustment of $371 million, net of an income tax benefit.