Story

Although the end of the story is far from written, Dynegy Inc. has settled a lawsuit with subsidiaries of Enron Corp. for Dynegy to exercise its option to acquire the Northern Natural Gas (NNG) pipeline. Dynegy and Enron have agreed to a closing on the pipe by the end of this month. Dynegy, in return, has agreed to extend Enron’s option to repurchase the pipeline from May 9, 2002, to June 30, 2002.

Although the end of the story is far from written, Dynegy Inc. late Thursday announced that it has settled the lawsuit with subsidiaries of Enron Corp. for Dynegy to exercise its option to acquire the Northern Natural Gas (NNG) pipeline. Dynegy and Enron agreed to a closing by the end of January 2002. Dynegy, in return, has agreed to extend Enron’s option to repurchase the pipeline from May 9, 2002, to June 30, 2002.

In a story that ran in NGI’s Daily Gas Price Index on Dec. 5, titled “Gas Sales Soar 24% in 3Q, but Enron Casts Dark Cloud Over Future,” NGI noted that BP is expected to expand its trading and marketing activities because of it purchase of TransCanada’s marketing operations in September. However, NGI failed to mention that Mirant actually is buying the larger portion of TransCanada’s marketing and trading business, a book covering about 5.1 Bcf/d of TransCanada’s first quarter sales of 7.9 Bcf/d. In September, BP Gas & Power bought TransCanada’s CanStates Gas Marketing, a contract to manage gas supply assets for SEMCO Energy Gas Co., and its marketing and trading operations in its Omaha, NE office. Mirant, however, will become the largest gas dealer in Canada and the top exporter as well with its TransCanada purchase. The deal raises Mirant’s profile in Canadian gas into the range of 6-7 Bcf/d and boosts its total North American gas sales to about 18.2 Bcf/d, which could put it at the top of the rankings in the fourth quarter. TransCanada, Canada’s largest natural gas transporter, exited the natural gas marketing business to focus on its core natural gas transportation and power businesses in Canada and the northern tier of the United States.

While the shock of the probable demise of Enron monopolized conversation in all trading rooms (see related story), swing prices continued to shoot higher Wednesday as winter storms raged through much of the nation’s midsection and parts of the West. Cold temperatures were prevalent almost everywhere except in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states.

Forecasting exploration and production companies’ stock price performance can be a real headache because it can’t be done by traditional means. According to a new Lehman Brother’s report, it turns out that the key determinants of large and small E&P company share price performance are per share growth in reserves, production and cash flow, rather than historical accounting measures, such as earnings and returns on capital.

Forecasting exploration and production companies’ stock price performance can be a real headache because it can’t be done by traditional means. According to a new Lehman Brother’s report, it turns out that the key determinants of large and small E&P company share price performance are per share growth in reserves, production and cash flow, rather than historical accounting measures, such as earnings and returns on capital.

In a story that ran in the Oct. 25 edition of NGI’s Daily Gas Price Index, titled “El Paso Posts Solid Earnings, But Special Charges Lower Profits,” some comments were incorrectly attributed to El Paso Merchant Energy Group President Ralph Eads III. The comments were made by Greg Jenkins, CEO of El Paso Global Networks. The comments also contained some inaccuracies. Jenkins said, “The [global network business] has deteriorated much more over the course of the past several weeks and few months. The regulatory environment in our judgement is viewed unfavorably against real competition, and today the market fundamentals are very weak. Consequently we are reducing our focus [on telecommunications]. Our focus next year is going to be on those activities where that value is recognizable, that being the Texas market in particular, and maximizing returns on those assets.” Jenkins’ was not referring to the merchant generation business, and El Paso Corp. has reaffirmed its confidence in merchant generation and its position in that market. NGI regrets the errors.

PPL Corp. was lighting the peace candle on the west side of its 22-story headquarters building in Allentown, PA, Thursday night and continuing through the weekend “as a symbol of the light that the American spirit can bring to even the darkest circumstances.” The commemorative gesture, and an accompanying donation, was just one of the many donations and supportive messages from energy companies in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the United States Sept. 11, 2001.

A story that ran in NGI’s Daily Gas Price Index on Sept. 7 titled, “CONSOL CEO Highlights Gas Production, Talks Power,” incorrectly reported the difference between analysts’ estimates of CONSOL Energy earnings and CEO J. Brett Harvey’s guidance for the six month period ending Dec. 31. Harvey told investors last Thursday at the Friedman Billings Ramsey 8th Annual Investor Conference in Washington, DC, that he expects the company to earn about $0.50/share for the six-month period, which is $0.34 below Wall Street estimates of $0.84/share for the six-month transition period ending Dec. 31. NGI regrets the error. In addition, CONSOL Energy issued a correction to its news release on Friday. CONSOL Energy acquired “366 Bcf” rather than “366 MMcf” as originally issued on Thursday.