Takes

Marathon Oil Corp.’s Canadian subsidiary is permanently abandoning a deepwater wildcat natural gas well offshore Nova Scotia after failing to find any commercial quantities of oil and natural gas. When Marathon first discovered gas in the Annapolis block in 2002, it had estimated there could be between 5-15 Tcf of natural gas within the play (see Daily GPI, Aug. 14, 2002).

Dynegy Inc.’s new management team said restoring investor confidence and focusing on business remain key following the resignation last week of founder Chuck Watson, CEO and chairman. No strategic shifts are expected, but the executive team is now led by ChevronTexaco Vice Chairman Glenn F. Tilton. Steve Bergstrom, Watson’s right-hand man, remains COO and president — already seen by many as a good sign that the board of directors was loyal to Dynegy’s direction, but not its 17-year leader.

WGL Holdings objected last Tuesday to a downgrade of its commercial paper rating to Not Prime from Prime-3 by Moody’s Investors Service, stating that the rating agency’s decision lacked sufficient explanation.

WGL Holdings took issue Tuesday with a downgrade of its commercial paper rating to Not Prime from Prime-3 by Moody’s Investors Service, stating that the rating agency’s decision lacked sufficient explanation.

TransCanada Corp. last week filed an application under the Alaska Stranded Gas Development Act (SGDA), which assures fiscal terms should the company and the state come to an agreement on building a gas pipeline project. TransCanada now plans to proceed with processing its right-of-way application for the Alaska Highway pipeline.

TransCanada Corp. has filed an application under the Alaska Stranded Gas Development Act, which assures fiscal terms should the company and the state come to an agreement on building a gas pipeline project. TransCanada said it will now proceed with processing its application for a right-of-way across state lands for the Alaska Highway pipeline.

BC Hydro CEO Bob Elton told the business community in the city of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island last Thursday that the utility company plans to take a C$120 million (US$89 million) charge against earnings this year for the stalled Georgia Strait Crossing (GSX) gas pipeline project and the gas-fired 265 MW Vancouver Island Generation Project (VIGP). The power project was rejected by British Columbia regulators last fall as being too costly (see NGI, Sept. 15, 2003).

BC Hydro CEO Bob Elton told the business community in the city of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island Thursday that the utility company plans to take a C$120 million (US$89 million) charge against earnings this year for the stalled Georgia Strait Crossing (GSX) gas pipeline project and the gas-fired 265 MW Vancouver Island Generation Project (VIGP), which was rejected by British Columbia regulators last fall as being too costly (see Daily GPI, Sept. 15, 2003).

As anticipated, the combination of generally mild weather forecasts, lower load over a weekend and the previous day’s weakness in energy futures caused prices to range from flat to less than a dime lower at a majority of points Friday. However, decreases of more than a dime were clustered in the West, where a heat wave earlier in the week continued to abate.