Together

The ex-chief of Enron Corp.’s broadband unit said Tuesday former CEO Jeffrey Skilling approved related-party transactions put together by then-CFO Andrew Fastow to help the poorly performing unit boost its booked revenue.

Until it is known how states and FERC are “going to play in the sandbox together” in a post-Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA) world, there are likely to be at least some potential merger candidates that will remain on the sidelines, a top official with Lehman Brothers said last Wednesday. Under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct), PUHCA will be officially repealed in February 2006.

Looking to put together the tools, expertise and framework necessary to develop and deploy the first fleet of advanced nuclear power plants in America in nearly three decades, Baltimore, MD-based Constellation Energy and Bethesda, MD-based AREVA Inc. said last week that they have formed UniStar Nuclear as a joint enterprise to be located in Annapolis, MD.

In putting together the acquisition of Unocal Corp., ChevronTexaco Corp.’s top management sent a clear bullish signal that they expect sustained high oil and natural gas prices going forward, analysts noted last week.

News that some of the world’s leading liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporters got together in Trinidad last week to discuss price fixing, a la OPEC, alarmed some gas industry officials in the United States.

Officials from some of the world’s leading liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporters got together this week in Trinidad to discuss price fixing. But they also acknowledged the difficulty in achieving such a goal. Experts say North American consumers have little reason to be alarmed at this stage of the developing LNG marketplace.

Some analysts and company executives have questioned whether an energy trading operation is good for the balance sheets of prospective and current importers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in North America, but San Diego-based Sempra Energy, a leading proponent of trading and a major LNG player, was unabashedly supportive of its trading unit Tuesday at the Merrill Lynch “Global Power & Gas Leaders Conference.”

Some analysts and company executives have questioned whether an energy trading operation is good for the balance sheets of prospective and current importers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in North America, but San Diego-based Sempra Energy, a leading proponent of trading and a major LNG player, was unabashedly supportive of its trading unit Tuesday at the Merrill Lynch “Global Power & Gas Leaders Conference.”

Culminating a week of progress in pulling together the financing underpinning of its exit from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. on Friday announced it intends to offer $6.7 billion in first mortgage bonds to help pay credit claims in its $12 billion utility bankruptcy, the largest in U. S. history. This followed announcement earlier in the week that the utility secured $2.9 billion in credit facility commitments and authorization from California state regulators for its new financial structure.