Stick

Even as it eyes hundreds of millions of dollars of additional generation and transmission projects outside of California, Pacific Gas and Electric is going to “stick to its knitting,” which means bread-and-butter natural gas and electricity utility distribution, transmission and generation, according to remarks Tuesday by PG&E Corp. CEO Peter Darbee at the Merrill Lynch Global Power and Gas Leaders Conference in New York City.

Even as it eyes hundreds of millions of dollars of additional generation and transmission projects outside of California, Pacific Gas and Electric is going to “stick to its knitting,” which means bread-and-butter natural gas and electricity utility distribution, transmission and generation, according to remarks Tuesday by PG&E Corp. CEO Peter Darbee at the Merrill Lynch Global Power and Gas Leaders Conference in New York City.

Following through on its plan to stick with only one onshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal, ExxonMobil said Monday that it will probably sell the Vista del Sol project near Corpus Christi, TX, to another operator before the end of the year and will focus on its Golden Pass LNG project, which is already under construction in Sabine Pass, TX.

As the new year has brought steep mercury drops in many areas of the U.S., Joe Bastardi, senior expert meteorologist for AccuWeather.com, said it is almost certain that for many people it’s going to be the coldest 20-day period experienced since the winter of 1996.

As LNG projects continue to be proposed, industry-watchers wait to see which projects will stick and which ones will fade away. As opposed to the civil unrest in Bolivia which has cut off an international consortium-planned LNG facility there, Hunt Oil Co.’s Peruvian project appears to be sailing smooth seas and could begin operation in late 2007, early 2008, building an export/import link between the west coasts of North and South America.

As LNG projects continue to be proposed, industry-watchers wait to see which projects will stick and which ones will fade away. As opposed to the civil unrest in Bolivia which has cut off an international consortium-planned LNG facility there, Hunt Oil Co.’s Peruvian project appears to be sailing smooth seas and could begin operation in late 2007, early 2008, building an export/import link between the west coasts of North and South America.

NorthWestern Corp. said Wednesday that its board has decided to stick with interim CEO Gary G. Drook as its permanent president and chief executive. Drook has been interim CEO since Jan. 3, around the time the company announced a corporate restructuring program, cut its dividend and took large write downs for several unregulated businesses (see Daily GPI, Feb. 20). On Wednesday, the board also elected Michael J. Hanson COO. Drook said that Hanson will continue to lead the operations of NorthWestern’s core electric and natural gas utility operations and will have responsibility for the strategic direction of the utility business along with taking on the additional responsibility for human resources management. Drook previously was president and chief executive officer of AFFINA Inc. a Peoria, IL, provider of customer relationship management programs.

The Texas Public Utilities Commission (PUC) is asking state lawmakers to allow it to beef up the financial penalties it can impose for violations of state law or its own rules as they relates to errant behavior in the state’s power markets. The current $5,000 penalty may not be enough of a deterrent to prevent power companies from trying to exercise market power or game those markets, the PUC said.

Rather than make the lower just and reasonable standard the default measuring stick used in reviews of wholesale power contracts, FERC should instead adopt an approach touted by FERC Commissioners Nora Brownell and Linda Breathitt that would apply the more stringent public interest standard by default to such situations, a number of industry participants recently told the Commission.