In the wake of the New York Mercantile Exchange’s (Nymex) announcement that it will sell a 10% stake to General Atlantic for $135 million, questions surfaced about the future of open-outcry trading. The New York Post reported Thursday that exchange members are concerned that Goldman Sachs, which has ties to General Atlantic, would push electronic trading.
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Most Points Drop; A Few See Mild Firmness
A few flat to modestly higher numbers, mostly in the West and Midcontinent, surfaced here and there Monday, but prices were softer at a solid majority of points. They were pressured lower by Friday’s 7-cent screen decline and by moderating weather trends that so far have reduced heating load without replacing it with significant amounts of power generation load from higher temperatures.
Third North Baja LNG Proposal Surfaces
A third proposal for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal along the Pacific Coast of North Baja surfaced Wednesday with business news reports out of Mexico City of an Italian-Mexican private-sector joint venture wanting to develop a floating terminal about five miles off the coast of Rosarito Beach, which is immediately south of the border city of Tijuana and in proximity to major existing and proposed natural gas-fired power plants in the Mexican state.
Third North Baja LNG Proposal Surfaces
A third proposal for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal along the Pacific Coast of North Baja surfaced Wednesday with business news reports out of Mexico City of an Italian-Mexican private-sector joint venture wanting to develop a floating terminal about five miles off the coast of Rosarito Beach, which is immediately south of the border city of Tijuana and in proximity to major existing and proposed natural gas-fired power plants in the Mexican state.
Year-Old SoCalGas Market Restructuring Delayed Further
The philosophical split on the California Public Utility Commission surfaced again last Monday in a year-end business wrap-up meeting in which a more than year-old order for implementing a Southern California Gas Co. settlement leading to the restructuring of its markets was effectively “nullified,” in the words of one of the state regulators.
Year-Old SoCalGas Market Restructuring Delayed Further
The contentiousness and philosophical split among the five member California regulatory commission surfaced again Monday in a year-end business wrap-up meeting in which the more than year-old order for implementing a Southern California Gas Co. settlement leading to the restructuring of its markets has been effectively “nullified,” in the words of one of the state regulators.
S&P’s Credit Assessment of CPUC’s PG&E Bankruptcy Plan Casts Doubt
The credit “assessment,” or opinion of Standard & Poor’s that surfaced Wednesday in the third day of Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy confirmation hearings has strengthened the utility’s argument that the competing reorganization plan from state regulators and the official unsecured creditors’ committee will not work in getting the utility back to investment-grade credit ratings. The utility sees it as proof the alternative plan can’t be confirmed by the federal bankruptcy judge.
FERC Nominee’s Name Pops Up in DOE Task Force Papers
The name of prospective FERC nominee, Joseph T Kelliher, surfaced several times in the energy task force documents that the Department of Energy (DOE) was forced to release last week under court order, which could further spoil his chances of being appointed to the Commission.
Dingell, Markey Question Easing PUHCA, Investment Regulation A.E. (After Enron)
More fallout from the Enron meltdown surfaced last Wednesday as Democratic Reps. John Dingell (MI) and Ed Markey (MA) asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to reconsider its support for the repeal of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA), “as well as its permissive administration of the act.” In addition, the two leading Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee sought SEC support for the removal of a provision in pending electric restructuring legislation that would allow a PUHCA-registered holding company to use one of its subsidiaries to operate its own unregistered and unregulated investment company.
Washington Utility Takes on Industrial Giants
Another sign that the bloom may be off the deregulation bushsurfaced this week in the state of Washington when the state’smajor combination investor-owned utility butted heads with some ofthe region’s industrial giants, including Boeing, Equilon andGeorgia-Pacific, over the large energy users’ request to stateregulators Tuesday (Dec. 12) to get out of a special pricing dealthey cut four years ago when wholesale power prices were rockbottom.