Urged

A day after taking over the top spot at Royal Dutch/Shell Group, CEO Jeroen van der Veer urged staff to focus on their performance to help restore confidence in the London-based company.

The critical policy need facing FERC and the power industry in the context of the pricing of must-run generating units is not the mitigation of market power, but rather the correction of market flaws that “create persistent underrecovery” of costs by needed investment, both existing and new, Steve Corneli, an NRG Power Marketing Inc. executive, said last Wednesday.

Arizona regulators have urged the state’s private-sector utilities to pursue new and traditional approaches to upgrading the state’s natural gas pipeline infrastructure and storage, seeking to provide more diversity of both supplies and infrastructure. They outlined a gas framework as part of a policy statement released just before the holidays last month.

Arizona regulators have urged the state’s private-sector utilities to pursue new and traditional approaches to upgrading the state’s natural gas pipeline infrastructure and storage, seeking to provide more diversity of both supplies and infrastructure. They outlined a gas framework as part of a policy statement released just before the holidays last month.

Canadian oilsands producers are being urged to go to work on “kicking the natural gas dependency” after an industry canvass turned up alarming demand projections. In a draft report scheduled for release early in 2004, the Alberta Chamber of Resources says that continuing present patterns would cause an “unthinkable” squeeze, with up to half of Canadian gas supplies needed to make the synthetic oil which is rapidly taking over from conventional production.

Canadian oilsands producers are being urged to go to work on “kicking the natural gas dependency” after an industry canvass turned up alarming demand projections. In a draft report scheduled for release early in 2004, the Alberta Chamber of Resources says that continuing present patterns would cause an “unthinkable” squeeze, with up to half of Canadian gas supplies needed to make the synthetic oil which is rapidly taking over from conventional production.

Two FERC administrative law judges (ALJ) last Monday urged the full Commission to approve a settlement agreement reached between Aquila Merchant Services Inc. and FERC trial staff settling allegations that the Aquila Inc. subsidiary was involved in the manipulation of western power markets during the region’s 2000-2001 energy crisis.

House-Senate negotiators should jettison the irreconcilable issues that threaten the passage of comprehensive energy legislation this year, a major natural gas pipeline group said.

Electric utilities across the nation were urged by the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) Tuesday to give extra emphasis to inspecting and patrolling their transmission lines in the wake of two apparent attempts of sabotage on parts of the western grid in Oregon and Northern California.