Seek

The Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) and the American Petroleum Institute (API) separately petitioned an appeals court in Washington, DC, last week to review its earlier decision upholding the federal government’s right to include downstream marketing costs when computing natural gas royalties owed by individual producers.

A large collection of generators is pleading with FERC to act quickly on a series of complaints filed against them by Nevada Power, Sierra Pacific Power and Southern California Water Co. last year that asked the Commission to retroactively mitigate prices included in contracts entered into between the utilities and power sellers in 2000 and 2001.

Vice President Dick Cheney and 13 other prominent members of the Bush administration have asked a federal court in Washington, DC, to dismiss lawsuits filed by Judicial Watch Inc., a public watchdog group, seeking documents related to the task force that crafted the national energy policy.

As a further fallout from Enron Corp.’s financial collapse, three Democratic senators from the West Coast introduced legislation in Congress last week to step up the regulatory oversight of the energy markets to ensure full disclosure of all energy transactions. They plan to offer the measure as an amendment to the comprehensive energy bill, which the Senate is expected to take up after the Presidents Day recess.

As a further fallout from Enron Corp.’s financial collapse, three Democratic senators from the West Coast plan to introduce legislation in Congress today to step up the regulatory oversight of the energy markets to ensure full disclosure of all energy transactions.

The Independent Electricity Market Operator (IMO) of Ontario is soliciting bids for a “Multi-Region Natural Gas Infrastructure Study” covering the northeastern United States and Canada. IMO is coordinating the study on behalf of six other entities, including the New York ISO, PJM Interconnection, ISO New England, the Northeast Power Coordinating Council and the North American Electric Reliability Council.

Richmond, VA-based Dominion said it is conducting an open season in the first quarter of 2002 to seek customers for high deliverability storage service from its Hackberry storage facility in southwest Louisiana. Dominion said it plans to construct compressor facilities and natural gas pipelines to connect Hackberry’s existing salt caverns to several interstate pipelines in the area that carry supplies to the major U.S. markets.

On top of the ongoing investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and departments of Justice and Labor, two senators now have called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to launch a probe into Enron Corp. and its officers and directors to determine whether any federal fraud and consumer protection law violations and other irregularities occurred leading up to the collapse of the former energy giant.

On top of asking the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to turn over financial records on the once high-flying Enron Corp., two House panels have fired off letters to Chairman and CEO Kenneth Lay and former CFO Andrew S. Fastow seeking mounds of financial information related to the off-balance sheet entities that sparked the free-fall in the energy trader’s stock, and further interviews with key players who may possess critical information about the corporation’s financial collapse.