Whopper

A whopper of a service cost hike is built into TransCanada Corp.’s effort to salvage its foundering natural gas Mainline from Alberta to central Canada and the United States, the National Energy Board (NEB) has been told.

September ended up being a whopper of a month for energy trading and clearing on IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) and the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex). Both exchanges have reported volume records in a variety of products.

Led by its unregulated wholesale energy operations, Duke Energy put in a whopper quarter, exceeding analysts expectations. Earnings before interest and taxes from its wholesale group jumped 175%.

Led by its unregulated wholesale energy operations, Duke Energyput in a whopper quarter, exceeding analysts expectations. Earningsbefore interest and taxes from its wholesale group jumped 175%.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in areport issued yesterday that the 2000 hurricane season could be awhopper with 11 or more tropical storms, of which seven or morecould become hurricanes, with three or more classified as major.”The greatest influences in this forecast continue to be theon-going La Nina and a lesser-known climate phenomenon of warmerthan normal Atlantic Ocean temperatures that affect hurricaneactivity over very long time scales,” said NOAA Administrator D.James Baker. “La Nina is defined by cooler-than-average sea-surfacetemperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific. Duringlast year’s hurricane season, La Nina was bold, and clearlydefined, and gave forecasters more certainty. This year, La Nina’send is in sight,” Baker said. “Even if La Nina fades by August (asthe current forecast suggests), La Nina’s remnants and otherinfluences will still likely bring more storms than usual,” headded.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in areport issued yesterday that the 2000 hurricane season could be awhopper with 11 or more tropical storms, of which seven or morecould become hurricanes, with three or more classified as major.”The greatest influences in this forecast continue to be theon-going La Nina and a lesser-known climate phenomenon of warmerthan normal Atlantic Ocean temperatures that affect hurricaneactivity over very long time scales,” said NOAA Administrator D.James Baker. “La Ni¤a is defined by cooler-than-average sea-surfacetemperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific. Duringlast year’s hurricane season, La Ni¤a was bold, and clearlydefined, and gave forecasters more certainty. This year, La Ni¤a’send is in sight,” Baker said. “Even if La Ni¤a fades by August (asthe current forecast suggests), La Ni¤a’s remnants and otherinfluences will still likely bring more storms than usual,” headded.

First Energy has won a whopper $15 million power supply contractwith the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) coveringdeliveries to 843 federal accounts in New Jersey, including theStatue of Liberty and Ellis Island, U.S. landmarks operated by theNational Park Service.

First Energy has won a whopper $15 million power supply contractwith the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) coveringdeliveries to 843 federal accounts in New Jersey, including theStatue of Liberty and Ellis Island, U.S. landmarks operated by theNational Park Service.

Aquila Energy landed a whopper supply deal last week withChicago-based ComEd, one of the largest electric utilities in thecountry. The contract is for up to 625,000 Dth/d and Aquila said itis the largest single natural gas contract that has ever beenarranged in the energy industry. Although terms of the one-yeartransaction were not released, marketing sources and NGI’s pricingstaff confirmed the deal is tied to NGI’s Chicago cash index, oneof the most widely used indexes in the industry.