Strike

Natural gas pipelines, local distributors and industrial customers said they backed FERC’s current inquiry that potentially may limit the public’s access to sensitive critical energy infrastructure information (CEII), but some cautioned the agency not to go overboard in its effort. A few legal experts, however, adopted the surprising position that the Commission should use “all available legal means” to limit access to certain details about energy facilities in the wake of Sept. 11.

Republican and Democratic senators Tuesday drew lines in the sand over key amendments to strike a federal mandate for renewable energy from the omnibus energy bill (S. 517), and to regulate trading of over-the-counter (OTC) energy derivatives.

Seeking to bolster the expansive, 18-state regional power grid in their states, western governors last week signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with three key federal agencies. Bush administration officials and the state chief executives cemented the agreement during the Western Governors’ Association (WGA) annual meeting in Coeur d’ Arlene, ID.

Phillips Alaska, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Phillips Petroleum Co., and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. jointly announced last week the first discoveries in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) since the area was re-opened to exploration in 1999. The NPR-A is situated west of the Colville River on Alaska’s North Slope.

Phillips Alaska, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Phillips Petroleum Co., and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. jointly announced on Monday the first discoveries in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) since the area was re-opened to exploration in 1999. The NPR-A is situated west of the Colville River on Alaska’s North Slope.

Attempting to better accommodate the burgeoning Gulf Coast powerdemand, Entergy Corp. spent $1.9 billion to purchase 24 GE 7FAadvanced technology gas turbines and four steam turbines from GE,Entergy said yesterday. Delivery is scheduled through 2004. Theagreement includes turnkey installation of the 1,000 MW Freestonepower plant project and long-term service agreements (LTSAs) thatcover all scheduled maintenance for a period of 16 years followingthe start- up of each turbine.

A lightning strike Monday night at PG&E GasTransmission-Northwest’s Station 13 (Chemult, OR) caused ashortfall in receipts, but PG&E GT-NW said it worked with NOVAto correct respective linepacks under an Operational BalancingAgreement and thus did not expect any impact on Tuesday’s scheduledvolumes. However, it was unable to schedule any increased receiptsat Kingsgate or additional deliveries through Station 13 Tuesday.

A direct lightning strike occurred Monday at Transwestern’sBisti Compressor Station (San Juan County, NM), prompting thepipeline to declare a force majeure. Transwestern expected thestation to be down about three days, saying San Juan Lateralcapacity would be reduced to 700,000 MMbtu/d through Thursday.

Carolina Power & Light intends to either acquire a naturalgas supply or marketing company or strike a “strategic alliance”with one in a plan to offer customers “one-stop shopping” for theirmajor energy needs.