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Faced with mounting concerns from investors and credit-rating agencies, energy giant Williams Cos. announced a $3 billion-plus plan Tuesday to improve the company’s flailing balance sheet over the next 12 months. However, Williams’ strategy drew mixed reactions from the major ratings’ agencies and failed to stem its stock losses.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) has called on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to pay close attention to natural gas traded between November 2000 and May 2001 as it continues to investigate allegedly fraudulent and manipulative trading practices in California and other western energy markets during the critical 2000-2001 period.

As part of its affidavit on price-manipulation practices in western energy markets, PacifiCorp last week turned over to the Commission a “sampling” of audio tapes of transactions that reveal it may have been an unknowing “intermediary” in a number of “ricochet” trades with third-party energy companies during the latter half of 2000.

The sale of natural gas in Nova Scotia will remain open to competition. However, now the distributor will be allowed to sell natural gas directly during a seven-year development period — and others may market natural gas as well. Also, large industrial users will be able to connect directly with an offshore supply of gas before it goes into the Maritimes and Northeast pipeline.

Weak futures, mild weather and the load dropoff associated with a holiday weekend set the stage for falling gas prices Friday. Losses in the West tended to be greatest, led by a dive of about 60 cents at the OFO-plagued Southern California border. Eastern declines mostly ranged from 15 to 35 cents and were largest on Midcontinent pipes.

Capping a bearish week of market activity, natural gas futures extended to fresh four-week lows Friday as traders were able to look past terrorist concerns heading into the three-day weekend to focus on negative technical indicators and a price level that some feel may be as much as 50 cents overvalued. Bulls never got a chance in the holiday-abbreviated trading session when the June contract gapped lower at the opening bell and proceeded to work its way lower through much of the morning. Lackluster short-covering was seen near the closing, but it was easily consumed by continued overhead selling by commercial traders. June finished at $3.437, down 9.1 cents for the session and 25.1 cents lower for the week.

In reaction to the first detailed information alleging companies other than Enron played wholesale energy trading games in the western markets, Aquila, Williams and Sempra Energy each publicly denied they participated in the “ricochet” trading or “megawatt laundering” schemes detailed in filings last week by Portland, OR-based electric utilities PacifiCorp and Portland General Electric.

While FERC’s ongoing probe into price manipulation and phony “wash” trading transactions may look like the real deal to many outsiders, California Sen Steve Peace isn’t quite convinced yet. It could be just another “shoddy, incompetent and naive investigation” by the Commission into the behavior of energy suppliers in his state and elsewhere in the West, he said.

Enbridge Inc. Friday morning said that a new interconnect between Vector Pipeline LP. and Columbia Gas Transmission Corp.’s Crossroads Pipeline at Wheeler in Porter County, IN, is now in-service. The new interconnect offers natural gas customers in the Northern Indiana and Toledo, OH, areas additional access to natural gas supplies at the Chicago Hub.