Ruled

A Colorado judge last week ruled that BP wrongfully deducted the costs of gathering, treating and compression (GTC) from payments to royalty owners with interests in mostly coalbed methane wells in the San Juan Basin — a decision that could potentially cost the producer as much as $100 million in damages once interest is calculated and which may have implications for other producers.

A Colorado judge earlier this week ruled that BP wrongfully deducted the costs of gathering, treating and compression from payments to royalty owners with interests in mostly coalbed methane wells in the San Juan Basin — a decision that could potentially cost the producer as much as $100 million in damages once interest is calculated and which may have implications for other producers.

Coal producer Massey Energy Co. said it will pay $10.6 million to end a contract dispute with Duke Energy after an arbitrator ruled in favor of the Charlotte, NC-based energy company.

Natural gas futures took a long road to nowhere Thursday as prices moved to either side of the recent trading range on waves of local and commercial liquidation and short-covering.

FERC last Wednesday ruled that a proposal to form a regional transmission organization (RTO) covering a Pacific Northwest footprint known as RTO West will not only meet the requirements of the agency’s RTO-related Order 2000 — with some modifications and further development of certain details — but can also provide a basic framework for a standard market design for the West.

In a clear rebuke to FERC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday ruled the Commission went too far in an order that restricted certain rights of electric utilities involved in an independent system operator (ISO), and violated the Mobile Sierra doctrine in unilaterally requiring reformation of pre-existing wholesale power contracts.

The Interior Department’s Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) has ruled that the federal government illegally awarded three leases for coalbed methane (CBM) development in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming in early 2000, a decision some believe could affect other existing leases in the basin and hobble the Bush administration’s plans for expanded CBM production in the West.

FERC last Wednesday ruled that San Diego Gas & Electric Co. (SDG&E) can roll into its rates the costs associated with two proposed transmission upgrades that the utility has said will allow for significant levels of new generation to serve load in the western part of the country.

FERC last week ruled that KN Wattenberg Transmission LLC’s entire interstate pipeline system is gathering in nature and thus exempt from Commission jurisdiction.