Ways

In a complaint filed at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week, Pan-Alberta Gas (US) Inc. (PAGUS) and Mirant Americas Energy Marketing L.P. accused Enron-affiliated Northern Border Pipeline Co. of trying to “subvert” their rights to match competing third-party bids for pipeline capacity under the right-of-first refusal (ROFR) process.

“Finding creative ways to make deals happen is a bigger challenge for me than assessing a financial statement,” according to Frank Hilton, vice president and chief credit officer for AEP. “You have to look at other things besides the balance sheet,” Hilton told the audience at the LDC Forum last Tuesday in Chicago.

“Finding creative ways to make deals happen is a bigger challenge for me than assessing a financial statement,” according to Frank Hilton, vice president and chief credit officer for AEP. “You have to look at other things besides the balance sheet,” Hilton told the audience at the LDC Forum Tuesday in Chicago.

Liquidity-challenged energy merchants looking for ways to pay down debt may hear a knock at the door from Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Group in the very near future — if it hasn’t happened already. Many of the best opportunities, especially the power plants, have fallen below book value in just a few weeks, and they offer an especially attractive buy, CEO Mayo Shattuck III told analysts during a conference call Wednesday.

FPL Group expects more than $10 billion of power-related assets to be put up for sale as generators continue to look for ways to improve their balance sheets, Lewis Hay, FPL’s CEO, told a gathering of investment professionals last Tuesday in an appearance before the Morgan Stanley global electricity and energy conference in New York. If the rumblings of investment bankers are to be believed, another $5 billion to $10 billion worth of power plant property could also be waiting in the wings for companies looking to scoop up assets in a market that appears to remain firmly on the side of buyers.

Vancouver-based Epic Oil and Gas Ltd. said Thursday that AEC Storage and Hub Services Inc., a subsidiary of Alberta Energy Co. Ltd., has given notice to Epic’s U.S. subsidiaries Rival Resources Inc. and American Safari Resources Inc. that it is terminating its letter of agreement on the Birch Bay Gas Storage Project in northwest Washington State.

As Senate Republicans look for ways to bring the issue of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) drilling up for a vote, Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) issued a letter-report from the General Accounting Office (GAO) that finds that any attempt to drill in the national wildlife refuge system for reasons other than drainage would fly in the face of a 35-year-old policy prohibiting such activity.

As Senate Republicans look for ways to bring the issue of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) drilling up for a vote, Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) has issued a letter-report from the General Accounting Office (GAO) that finds that any attempt to drill in the national wildlife refuge system for reasons other than drainage would fly in the face of a 35-year-old policy prohibiting such activity.

Highlighting TransAlta’s increased attention to the generation side of its business, the company last Thursday said that it has signed an agreement to sell its Alberta-based transmission business to a consortium of companies collectively known as AltaLink.