Reporting

Nicor Inc. saw its stock price nearly cut in half Friday morning after reporting a slew of bad news, some of which also spilled over on Dynegy Inc., a joint venture partner. Nicor, long considered a stable old-line utility investment, stunned the market by reversing all of its first quarter earnings and excluding all of its second quarter earnings for a rate program used by subsidiary Nicor Gas, which contributed to a 36% drop in second quarter earnings. The board of directors in turn moved into action, appointing a special, independent committee to investigate the subsidiary’s natural gas purchases, sales, transportation and storage.

Nicor Inc. saw its stock price nearly cut in half Friday morning after reporting a slew of bad news, some of which also spilled over on Dynegy Inc., a joint venture partner. Nicor, long considered a stable old-line utility investment, stunned the market by reversing all of its first quarter earnings and excluding all of its second quarter earnings for a rate program used by subsidiary Nicor Gas, which contributed to a 36% drop in second quarter earnings. The board of directors in turn moved into action, appointing a special, independent committee to investigate the subsidiary’s natural gas purchases, sales, transportation and storage.

Nicor Inc. saw its stock price nearly cut in half Friday morning after reporting a slew of bad news, some of which also spilled over on Dynegy Inc., a joint venture partner. Nicor, long considered a stable old-line utility investment, stunned the market by reversing all of its first quarter earnings and excluding all of its second quarter earnings for a rate program used by subsidiary Nicor Gas, which contributed to a 36% drop in second quarter earnings. The board of directors in turn moved into action, appointing a special, independent committee to investigate the subsidiary’s natural gas purchases, sales, transportation and storage.

Independents took a beating in the fourth quarter of last year with 55 of the largest companies reporting earnings before special items totaling $1.1 billion, or $2.18/boe (sold), off more than 50% from $2.3 billion, or $4.79/boe, posted for the third quarter, and off 75% from $4.3 billion, or $9.51/boe, posted for the fourth quarter of 2000, according to a final analysis by Adamstown, MD-based Energy Performance Review.

With almost 40 of the largest public producers reporting year-end 2001 reserve data — representing two-thirds of total domestic gas production — Salomon Smith Barney (SSB) determined in a report issued last week that only 101% (120% excluding revisions) of production was replaced by new reserves in 2001. By comparison, this same group replaced 131% of production (101% excluding revisions) in 2000. However, proved undeveloped natural gas reserves (PUDs) rose, which failed to add to the reserve base.

Just one month after it ended a major reporting requirement for sellers of natural gas to the California market, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has ordered all sellers of gas and electricity to western states to report their short- and long-term wholesale sale transactions for 2000 and 2001. The agency has threatened to take “appropriate enforcement action,” including issuing subpoenas, against companies that fail to respond.

Just one month after it ended a major reporting requirement for sellers of natural gas to the California market, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has ordered all sellers of gas and electricity to western states to report their short- and long-term wholesale sale transactions for 2000 and 2001. The agency has threatened to take “appropriate enforcement action,” including issuing subpoenas, against companies that fail to respond.

Dynegy Inc. has named Marian Davenport senior vice president of legislative and regulatory affairs, reporting to Kenneth Randolph, executive vice president and general counsel. Davenport has had various executive positions with Dynegy since it acquired Destec Energy in 1997, where she was director of project development.

Thursday, it was deja vu all over again for both majors and independents reporting fourth quarter earnings. For the majors, Phillips Petroleum Co. and its merger partner Conoco both reported earnings declines for the final quarter of the year, while independent Houston Exploration Co. also saw earnings fall despite record production figures.