Troubled

TransCanada Corp. has been ordered to cut tolls on its troubled natural gas Mainline for long delivery contracts but granted offsetting rights to charge as much as markets for transportation services will bear for short capacity bookings.

Converting more pipeline in TransCanada Corp.’s troubled mainline to oil service would avert potential railway congestion as well as reduce the old natural gas system’s chronic excess capacity, say federal officials in Ottawa.

Converting more pipeline in TransCanada Corp.’s troubled mainline to oil service would avert potential railway congestion as well as reduce the old natural gas system’s chronic excess capacity, say federal officials in Ottawa.

BP plc last week clinched a mega-deal to sell its troubled half-stake in Russian explorer TNK-BP to Russian energy giant OAO Rosneft for $17.1 billion in a cash-and-stock transaction.

BP plc on Monday clinched a mega-deal to sell its troubled half-stake in Russian explorer TNK-BP to Russian energy giant OAO Rosneft for $17.1 billion in a cash-and-stock transaction.

Southern California Edison Co. (SCE) plans to eliminate nearly one-third of the staff at its troubled San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (Songs) along the Pacific Coast in the northern-most end of San Diego County, CA. The staff reductions had already been articulated in SCE’s pending general rate case, but with the two 2,200 MW Songs units out of service since January, the move is sure to spark more speculation about the long-term future of the plant. Both units have turned up excessive wear in part of the tubing on newly installed steam generators on both units (see Daily GPI, Feb. 7). The length of the outage has caused a re-emphasis on natural gas-fired generation in a state, which already relies on gas-fired power for the bulk of its in-state generation (see Daily GPI, Aug. 14). As part of the explanation for the staff reduction to 1,500 from the current levels above 2,100 positions, a utility spokesperson said the Songs steam generator issues “require SCE be prudent with its future spending while [the utility] and regulators review the long-term viability of the nuclear plant. The reality is that the Unit 3 reactor will not be operating for some time.”

Tolls will stay the same on TransCanada Corp.’s troubled natural gas Mainline linking Alberta to Ontario, Quebec and border crossings into the United States until a prolonged rate case sorts out its future.

Tolls will stay the same on TransCanada Corp.’s troubled natural gas Mainline linking Alberta to Ontario, Quebec and border crossings into the United States until a prolonged rate case sorts out its future.

TransCanada Corp. is seeking to freeze tolls on its natural gas Mainline at current levels until its grand design for reducing the troubled system’s charges — the proposed “business and services restructuring” — can be put into practice.