NGI The Weekly Gas Market Report

Stepping up the campaign for power price caps in advance of FERC’s meeting on the issue today, (1 p.m. at the Commission offices), S. David Freeman, senior energy advisor to the California governor, told a press briefing last week in Washington, DC, of the state’s “desperate need for FERC to bring prices down to just and reasonable rates.” The Commissioners should exercise their legal independence from the White House, he added.

The American Public Gas Associaton (APGA) says the recent falloff in natural gas prices leads it to believe that more than the traditional supply-and-demand forces were at work last winter in driving up prices.

Moving a step closer to production, Calgary-based Canadian Superior Energy Inc. reported that it has completed the acquisition of 1,100 kilometers of high-resolution seismic coverage of its offshore Nova Scotia Marquis prospects and an additional 700 kilometers of seismic data in the immediate area from Geophysical Service Inc. (GSI) of Houston.

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National Grid USA’s proposed purchase of Niagara Mohawk Holdings Inc. moved one step closer to completion last Wednesday after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission gave its blessing to the deal. The merger, currently valued at $3 billion and first unveiled in September of last year (see NGI, September 11, 2000), still needs to clear a number of regulatory hurdles before it can be completed.

From the White House to Congress to the California governor’s office to the boardrooms of the nation’s top power marketers and generators, all eyes will be on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission today as it convenes a specially meeting to address a multitude of requests for rehearing of its much-maligned market monitoring and price mitigation plan that went into effect in late May for the California power market.

Using his own company’s experience as a model, Enron CEO Jeffrey K. Skilling predicted last week that more businesses would become “de-integrated” in the future, creating new markets. Skilling, who was keynote speaker at the Las Vegas’ Strategic Directions 2001, also used his well-known wit to lampoon the California energy crisis following his presentation.

Legislation that would extend the tax credits for coalbed methane and other varieties of natural gas got a thumbs up from a variety of supporters last week, with the House Ways and Means Select Revenue Measures (SRM) subcommittee hearing testimony from both industry and consumer groups in support of the extension and other issues to sustain and improve U.S. energy production.

A smooth transition of the merger between Unicom and PECO Energy that created Exelon Corp. is just one of several reasons why the company believes it will meet or surpass its 2001 earnings target of $4.50 per share, said Exelon Co-CEO John W. Rowe last week.