Wants

El Paso said that its investigation of the reports has not been completed, but it expects to have preliminary results in about two weeks.

Western Gas Resources Inc. has filed a lawsuit against Williams Cos. concerning the control and ownership of their jointly owned properties in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming. The lawsuit concerns a 1997 development and operating agreement between Western Gas and former venture partner Barrett Resources Inc., which was acquired by Williams in 2001 (see Daily GPI, May 8, 2001).

Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) last Thursday urged fellow lawmakers crafting a comprehensive energy bill to place restrictions on what he called FERC’s “virtually unintelligible, 638-page” proposed rulemaking for a standard market design (SMD) in U.S. wholesale electricity markets.

American Electric Power (AEP) has asked the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to determine which of its 16 natural gas-fired power plants in the state’s grid system, which have remained idle for most of this year, have to remain activated. AEP plans to mothball some or all of the Texas power plants by the end of the year if they are not on the state’s “reliability must run” (RMR) list, to boost the company’s bottom line.

FERC last Wednesday asked the power industry to provide it with a progress report on efforts to achieve coordination between the development of industry reliability standards and business practices, while also reiterating a prior warning that it will establish its own process to ensure coordination if industry cannot agree on an effective mechanism.

After seven technical conferences and four alternative dispute-assisted settlement conferences addressing the capacity allocation problems on El Paso Natural Gas, FERC Chairman Pat Wood told the pipeline, its customers and state regulators last week that “we kind of need to close this baby out.” El Paso President Patricia Shelton agreed, adding “it’s getting ugly.”

Dynegy Inc., cast by Enron Corp. as the villain in its bankruptcy filing, has aggressively countered every move by its former rival, and Thursday filed a motion requesting the bankruptcy case be moved to Houston, where both of the companies are headquartered. Dynegy, facing a $10 billion breach of contract lawsuit that Enron incorporated into its bankruptcy proceedings on Dec. 2, filed papers with New York Judge Arthur Gonzalez, noting that Enron’s decision to file in the Southern District of New York was “a classic example of the type of forum shopping that should not be condoned.”

Dynegy Inc., cast by Enron Corp. as the villain in its bankruptcy filing, has aggressively countered every move by its former rival, and late last week filed a motion requesting the bankruptcy case be moved to Houston, where both of the companies are headquartered. Dynegy, facing a $10 billion breach of contract lawsuit that Enron incorporated into its bankruptcy proceedings on Dec. 2, filed papers with New York Judge Arthur Gonzalez, noting that Enron’s decision to file in the Southern District of New York was “a classic example of the type of forum shopping that should not be condoned.”

Although the project economics aren’t too appealing at the moment, FERC Chairman Pat Wood said last Thursday that the construction of a long-line natural gas pipeline from Alaska should remain a key priority of the gas industry and the nation (see related story).