Warned

Former Enron Corp. vice president Sherron Watkins, who warned then-Chairman Kenneth L. Lay in August 2001 that the energy trading company was about to “implode” in a wave of accounting irregularities, and two other whistle-blowers were named over the weekend as Time Magazine’s Persons of the Year. She will share the cover with WorldCom auditor Cynthia Cooper and FBI agent Coleen Rowley.

North American natural gas markets stand warned that western Canadian supplies either have or soon will reach a turning point where they peak then start to run down, and the nation’s top transporter, TransCanada PipeLines, is starting to craft liquefied natural gas (LNG) import projects.

North American natural gas markets stand warned that western Canadian supplies either have or soon will reach a turning point where they peak then start to run down, and the nation’s top transporter is crafting import projects.

Dynegy reported a devastating third-quarter loss of $1.8 billion ($4.92/share) on Wednesday, warned of more writedowns in the fourth quarter, failed to offer any earnings guidance going forward, and finally stunned investors and analysts with no conference call to explain. To make matters even worse, the once-formidable alliance between Dynegy and ChevronTexaco appeared notably strained Wednesday, and negotiations were under way to terminate lucrative natural gas sales contracts now scheduled through August 2006.

Following last year’s record warm winter and lower energy prices, Yankee Gas warned that consumers can expect to pay higher energy prices “across the board” this heating season. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) said demand for gas is expected to increase 12% compared to last year, assuming normal weather.

Following last year’s record winter warmth and lower energy prices, Yankee Gas warned that consumers can expect to pay higher energy prices “across the board” this heating season. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) said demand for gas is expected to increase 12% compared to last year, assuming normal weather.

Northwest warned shippers that based on available data, it may need to invoke a Declared Overrun Entitlement Period as early as Tuesday. The entitlement would apply to delivery points north of Kemmerer (WY) Compressor Station, which is considered a longtime bottleneck on the pipeline’s system. Northwest explained Thursday that over the past few months it has allowed shippers to draft the system on a limited basis to work off their Receiving Party imbalances. But during the past week the drafting has been excessive, it continued, and as documented in daily bulletin board reports, Northwest’s balance at the Jackson Prairie storage facility “is rapidly decreasing.” Also, maintenance scheduled for Tuesday and Friday of this week and on Sept. 4 (see Daily GPI, Aug. 23) will require that Northwest rely on storage to balance the system. The storage activities on the maintenance days likely will involve withdrawals from Jackson Prairie and injections into Questar’s Clay Basin facility. Northwest’s storage account must be full on Sept. 30, as required by the Jackson Prairie partnership agreement.

Canadian regulators have been bluntly warned that the continental market in natural gas has overtaken their ability to turn back the clock by policing it more tightly without damaging it. Transactions have attained a level of speed and complexity where even dipping into the stream to collect and disclose information would be disruptive, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) said in a request to the National Energy Board (NEB) to refrain from trying to interfere.

Five former and current members of Enron’s board of directors were put on the firing line last week during a hearing by an investigating subcommittee of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee into their role in the Enron fiasco. Most board members testified that Enron’s upper management kept them pretty much in the dark, and that they didn’t learn the extent of the financial nightmare until it was too late.