Reserved

Questar Pipeline has called on FERC to jettison the proposedmerger of powerhouses Sempra Energy and KN Energy, insisting thedeal would “undermine” competition in the gas and electric marketsin southern California.

Superior Court Judge Jose Lopez has signed off on a “letterrogatory” that sets in motion the process for attorneys for theNatural Gas Supply Association (NGSA) to depose the former CanadianEmbassy aide who has been accused along with the group’s formerpresident, Nicholas Bush, of defrauding the association of millionsof dollars.

Despite the study by the Mid-America Interconnected Network(MAIN) last month indicating that power supplies in the Midwesthave greatly improved over last year, there are some who aren’tquite ready to write off the possibility of a recurrence of pricespikes for the region this summer.

Can you trust a marketer with all of your regulated assets? It’sa question many LDCs are asking themselves these days asderegulation and competition are stranding more and more supplycontracts, upstream transportation and storage. But there’s no easyanswer, according to several panelists speaking at NGI’sGasMart/Power ’99 in Dallas last week.

Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-AK), chairman of the Senate Committee onEnergy and Natural Resources, consolidated several recentlegislative measures and a few new ones into two separate pieces oflegislation last week that could have a wide ranging impact on theexploration and production sector.

Williams Gas Pipelines’ Lew Posekany made a proposition lastweek that would make most pipeline customers cringe in disbelief-that FERC in its quest to create a more competitive natural gasmarket should toss out some of the notions of fairness that havebeen woven into its transportation regulations over time.

FERC took a major step last week toward regional operation ofthe electric transmission grid by issuing a notice of proposedrulemaking (NOPR) that seeks to promote the formation of regionaltransmission organizations (RTOs) nationwide.

Williams Gas Pipelines’ Lew Posekany proposed something thisweek that would make most pipeline customers cringe-that FERC inits quest to create a more competitive natural gas market shouldtoss out some of the notions of fairness that have been woven intoits regulations over time.

The trend among the top energy marketers appears to be that thebig movers continue getting much bigger while the smaller marketersare struggling to maintain previous sales volumes andprofitability, according to NGI’s marketing survey. The survey alsoindicates volume growth has very little correlation with financialperformance.