Wallet

Chevron Corp., which opened its wallet in a big way last fall with its nearly $5 billion purchase of U.S. shale producer Atlas Energy Inc., sees natural gas as the highway to the future. And it’s banking on it.

Flush with cash from an IPO early in the summer, aCalifornia-based micro-turbine pioneer yet to record a profit, ishoping to keep up with increasing demand and move into the blackfinancially by the end of next year, spurred along at leastpartially by this summer’s electricity supply and price problems.

Entergy Corp., a major New Orleans-based power producer andutility company, will keep its wallet open for the foreseeablefuture as it unveiled a five-year $9.8 billion capital investmentplan yesterday. The company said it will use the cash influx tofuel growth in power development and nuclear operations businesses,while also improving the performance of its utility operations.