Spain

Houston-based Enstor Inc., a unit of Spain’s Iberdrola SA, will begin accepting binding bids for firm storage capacity at its Caledonia Gas Storage Field in northeast Mississippi, the company said Wednesday. Bidding will begin Aug. 6 and close at 5 p.m. CDT on Aug. 20.

Enstor Inc., a unit of Spain’s Iberdrola SA, is buying Caledonia Energy Partners LLC (CEP), owner of the Caledonia Gas Storage Field in northeastern Mississippi, from Tenaska Power Fund LP (TPF) and other owners, the companies said Monday.

Portland, OR-based merchant energy developer PPM Energy is still getting used to being part of the $100 billion international empire of Spain-based Iberdrola, and now it faces a new corporate structure as the Spanish behemoth announced it plans to consolidate all of its renewable energy businesses and spin them off into a new company in an initial public offering (IPO) early next year.

With record natural gas storage inventories and a lack of winter weather (until this week), some may not think it’s the time to talk about expanding North American storage facilities. But those in the know would beg to differ.

Canada’s Irving Oil and Spain’s Repsol, a major player in the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) business, have signed definitive partnership agreements on development of the 1 Bcf/d Canaport LNG terminal in St. John, NB, which would be connected to Irving Oil’s refinery and the eastern Canadian pipeline grid. The terminal is expected to be operational, delivering regasified LNG into the marketplace, in 2008.

Canada’s Irving Oil and Spain’s Repsol, a major player in the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) business, have signed definitive partnership agreements on development of the 1 Bcf/d Canaport LNG terminal in St. John, NB, which would be connected to Irving Oil’s refinery and the eastern Canadian pipeline grid. The terminal is expected to be operational, delivering regasified LNG into the marketplace, in 2008.

The recent running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, seems prettytame compared to the stampede developing in the gas market. It wasa more hectic Nymex closing day than usual Wednesday as a mildincrease in the last day of trading August futures was accompaniedby what one source called a “pitiful” little AGA storage injectionreport, Michigan electric utilities appealing a day in advance forenergy conservation, a skyrocketing Access session and higher Julyswing numbers. All in all, it added up to an extremely strongmarket that “there doesn’t seem to be any way of stopping,” a Texasmarketer said.