Times

Bobcat Gas Storage said its recent nonbinding open season drew market interest for five times the 12 Bcf of working gas capacity in its proposed salt dome storage project in St. Landry Parish, LA. The company has requested final FERC approval of the project by July 15 and expects service to begin in October 2007.

Spokane, WA-based Avista Corp. Wednesday reported first quarter 2006 earnings that are three times more than results in the first quarter of last year — $31.6 million, or 64 cents/diluted share, compared with $10.2 million, or 21 cents/diluted share, for the same period in 2005. Avista Utilities reported $26.1 million in earnings compared with $18.9 million the same quarter last year.

After six days of quarreling with the prosecutor — and at times his own lawyer — Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay completed his turn in the witness chair early Tuesday, telling jurors that he loved Enron and that watching it collapse into bankruptcy was “the most painful thing” in his life.

Former Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling, more animated and at times testy on his second day in the witness chair, Tuesday said the ex-Enron executives who testified that he manipulated earnings and lied to investors were not telling the truth. Skilling also deflected responsibility for the content of Enron’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings and earnings releases, telling jurors he was often the last person to see them before they were issued.

Former Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling used to have a lot of trouble keeping his mouth shut. Known for being brash, opinionated and at times foul-mouthed, he used to boast that Enron would be the world’s largest company. However, since resigning in August 2001, Skilling has been mostly silent, seen more often in the gossip pages for his public behavior than talking about the charges against him. Next week, however, he will tell his side of the story.

The trial of Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay and ex-CEO Jeffrey Skilling moves into its fourth week on Tuesday, and while it has at times been dull and colorless, the pace picked up last week following a stern request by U.S. District Judge Sim Lake to hear “questions” and not just “statements” by the trial lawyers.

Putting behind some negative results at times over the past two years, Bellevue, WA-based Puget Sound Energy (PSE) had its relatively high investment-grade credit rating affirmed by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services at year-end Friday, sticking with a “BBB-” corporate rating for the PSE utility and its parent, Puget Energy. The outlook, S&P said, is stable for the combination utility serving the northwestern parts of the state of Washington.

While imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) into the U.S. in 2004 were nearly three times the volume received five years ago, pipeline imports of Canadian gas continued to be the greatest supply source to meet domestic demand, according to a new report released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) Wednesday. However, the EIA indicated that LNG, which is growing at a faster clip, could overtake Canadian supplies as the main source of imports in the years ahead.

Two South Dakota-based energy holding companies that have struggled at times in recent years are in play for a “strategic combination” proposed by Black Hills Corp. in a stock-for-stock merger with NorthWestern Corp.