Wake

In the wake of a recent “erosion” of confidence in competitive electricity markets, FERC Commissioner William Massey last Wednesday called on the power industry to work with his agency in helping to restore political, financial and consumer confidence in those markets.

In the wake of the recent court ruling upholding Order 637, FERC Chairman Patrick Wood said he now has an “open mind” about renewing the price-cap waiver on short-term capacity releases, when the agency’s two-year experiment in the natural gas transportation market comes to a close later this year.

By this summer, at least two more energy trading companies — more likely asset-light instead of asset-heavy — may be forced to file for bankruptcy, which will offer opportunities for other companies, and perhaps even an opening for new trading players, a panel of energy executives forecast last Tuesday. Speaking at the UBS Warburg Global Energy & Utilities Conference in New York City, the panel agreed that companies most likely to succeed will be the multi-dimensional players, with balanced portfolios that operate in both high or low volatility markets.

By this summer, at least two more energy trading companies — more likely asset-light instead of asset-heavy — may be forced to file for bankruptcy, which will offer opportunities for other companies, and perhaps even an opening for new trading players, a panel of energy executives forecast Tuesday. Speaking at the UBS Warburg Global Energy & Utilities Conference in New York City, the panel agreed that companies most likely to succeed will be the multi-dimensional players, with balanced portfolios that operate in both high or low volatility markets.

Citing the growing uncertainty surrounding future development of energy projects in the wake of Sept. 11 and the Enron debacle, California’s neophyte state power authority released the latest draft of its emerging plan to use a wave of new joint venture renewable energy projects over the next five years to build a power generation reserve margin in the 15-20% range. The new agency’s working draft identifies a number of “gaps” in the state’s electricity market that it suggests the new authority can attempt to help fill.

In the wake of Sept. 11, 2001 and the much higher profile for international terrorism, environmentalists and elected officials are taking a closer look at the resurgence of interest in operating liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in the United States, with new concerns about the federal government being poised to okay the re-opening of several East Coast LNG terminals.

In the wake of Sept. 11, 2001 and the much higher profile for international terrorism, environmentalists and elected officials are taking a closer look at the resurgence of interest in operating liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in the United States, with new concerns about the federal government being poised to okay the re-opening of several East Coast LNG terminals.

In what at first glance appears to be part of the continuing fallout from the rapid downfall and bankruptcy of Enron Corp., the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last week amended its rules and forms to require more transparent company disclosures of employee stock option plans (ESOP) and other equity compensation arrangements.

Raymond James & Associates expects another wave of mergers and acquisitions in the wake of the Enron catastrophe, as marketing and trading companies come to the realization that hard physical assets are much more desirable than heavily leveraging a balance sheet to a trading desk.