Unclear

Blackouts swept across the Northeast, Great Lakes and eastern Canada Thursday afternoon, but the cause was still unclear late in the day. National news reports were focused on an alleged fire at a Consolidated Edison Co. (ConEd) power plant in New York City and an overload on Niagara Mohawk’s (NiMo) power grid in Upstate New York as potential causes for the widespread outages.

E prime, the natural gas marketing and trading arm of Xcel Energy, said Friday it has fired or accepted the resignations of four traders in Denver for reporting false gas prices to industry newsletters that publish indexes, and has suspended two other employees pending completion of an investigation. Xcel Energy Chairman Wayne H. Brunetti signaled that e prime’s future may be in doubt in light of the traders’ questionable activities.

E prime, the natural gas marketing and trading arm of Xcel Energy, said Friday it has fired or accepted the resignations of four traders in Denver for reporting false gas prices to industry newsletters that publish indexes, and has suspended two other employees pending completion of an investigation. Xcel Energy Chairman Wayne H. Brunetti signaled that e prime’s future may be in doubt in light of the traders’ questionable activities.

Although it was unclear why, spokespeople for both sides Tuesday confirmed that a lawsuit brought by California’s lieutenant governor in a state Superior Court in Los Angeles quietly late last month dropped McGraw-Hill and two of its industry publications from the legal action that alleges widespread wholesale natural gas market manipulation. The court dismissed without prejudice the suit against the publishing company at the request of attorneys for Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, who filed suit last year as a private citizen.

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) last week presented low- and high-case projections on natural gas production from the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), showing a wide range between the two because of the uncertainty over decline rates. GOM gas production either will fall slightly through 2006 or rise sharply and then level off after 2004. The forecast concludes that gas production in 2006 will be between 10.97 Bcf/d and 16.39 Bcf/d from the Outer Continental Shelf. Oil production, meanwhile, will rise to between 2.00-2.47 million bbl/d.

After all of the ups and downs in the U.S.’s natural gas markets over the past year, industry experts at the 13th Annual LDC Forum in Chicago last week said they still foresee a 30 Tcf market in the future, but they differ on the expected timeframe. The speakers agreed that the nation’s current infrastructure would need to be beefed up to shoulder the load.

After all of the ups and downs in the U.S.’s natural gas markets over the past year, industry experts at the 13th Annual LDC Forum in Chicago Monday said they still foresee a 30 Tcf market in the future, but they differ on the expected timeframe. The speakers agreed that the nation’s current infrastructure would need to be beefed up to shoulder the load.

With several significant matters unresolved, including questions related to the procurement of property, Sempra Energy Resources is hesitant to predict when it will reach a final decision on pursuing the construction of a 500 MW, natural gas-fueled power plant in Escondido, CA.

With several significant matters unresolved, including questions related to the procurement of property, Sempra Energy Resources is hesitant to predict when it will reach afinal decision on pursuing the construction of a 500 MW, natural gas-fueled power plant in Escondido, CA.