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Enron Mail |
Topping Out In Houston Again Time Magazine, 05/28/01 Enron to meet government for talks on power dispute Associated Press Newswires, 05/22/01 Enron to meet government for talks on power dispute Associated Press Newswires, 05/22/01 INDIA: WRAPUP 1-Indian state questions power deals, cites Enron. Reuters English News Service, 05/22/01 Enron pulls out of venture drilling in Qatar's waters Associated Press Newswires, 05/22/01 GERMANY: Enron says Lampertheim hub attracting interest. Reuters English News Service, 05/22/01 May 28, 2001 TIME Magazine Topping Out In Houston Again BY CATHY BOOTH THOMAS/DALLAS Send the architects south. Silicon Valley may be powerless and profitless, but Houston, the nation's energy capital and home to the oil-baron excesses of the 1980s, is back in "bidness." The energy giants in Texas have big fat wallets these days--and even bigger construction plans. Not since the boom days of 1982, when trophy architects like Philip Johnson and I.M. Pei reconfigured the skyline, has Houston seen so much construction activity by the energy sector. Leading the parade, ironically, is Enron, an old energy behemoth that has reinvented itself as a high-tech trading firm dealing in everything from natural gas to Internet bandwidth. In fact, its new 40-story headquarters, designed by Cesar Pelli, will be fronted by a seven-story "podium"--or shorter building--to house what Enron is calling the largest commodities-trading environment in the world. This environment, spread over four floors, each the size of a city block, will become home this August to 2,000 employees trading commodities that range from Old World (crude oil, petrochemicals, steel and lumber) to New World (emission credits and derivatives). Chairman Kenneth Lay and CEO Jeff Skilling are even moving from their skyboxes to work in seventh-floor offices so they can peer down into the pit. When the bigger 40-story structure is finished in December, Enron's will be the first new skyscraper in downtown Houston since 1987--to be followed by three more by 2003. Besides Enron, Calpine Corp., the nation's leading independent-power company, based in California, will move into a new 32-story high-rise. And Reliant Resources, the IPO spun off this month from its Houston parent to deal with Texas' new deregulated electricity market, has signed on for offices in a 36-story skyscraper. What's fueling the high-rise fever is simple: excess cash. Enron's first-quarter revenues were up 281%, while Calpine's revenues and net income were each up more than 400%--even with California's deadbeat utility PG&E owing the company more than $300 million. After a decade of contraction in the business, with companies having shut offices from New Orleans to Oklahoma, deregulation and new marketing strategies are sparking Houston's renaissance. "Enron is a leading example of the new energy industry. Ten years ago, there were no trading floors," points out Stephen Brown, senior economist with the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas. Both Calpine and Reliant will also have trading operations in their new offices. Though Houston no longer relies so heavily on the energy business (down to 48% of the local economy from 82% in 1982) the turnaround sure feels good after the city lost more than 15,000 energy-sector jobs two years ago, says Barton Smith, director of the Institute for Regional Forecasting at the University of Houston. It has gained those jobs back, plus some. Says Smith: "The current boom is what's keeping Houston afloat while the rest of the country is suffering." None of this matters to real Houston lovers, of course. They're just interested in bragging rights. After a bad decade, they're beginning to sound like the biggest and the best in Texas again. "Boomlet?" says Laura Schwartz, spokeswoman at Enron. "It's more than a mini-boom. It's a boom." Enron to meet government for talks on power dispute By RAMOLA TALWAR BADAM Associated Press Writer 05/22/2001 Associated Press Newswires Copyright 2001. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. BOMBAY, India (AP) - The Indian subsidiary of American power concern Enron Corp. said Tuesday it would meet government officials for talks on a power supply dispute. "We look forward to hearing the proposed solutions ... particularly relating to creditworthy purchases for the power," said a statement from Dabhol Power Co., Enron's Indian unit. The statement comes two days after the company issued a preliminary notice to the Maharashtra State Electricity Board, a state-run utility, that it would stop supplying electricity if the government company continued to default on payments. Representatives from Houston-based Enron will meet Wednesday with officials from the utility, the federal government and Maharashtra, the western Indian state where the project is located. The MSEB has denied it defaulted on paying electricity bills to the power company that is setting up a $3 billion project in Maharashtra state. MSEB officials said overdue December and January bills of $48 million should be offset against a fine of $85.31 million it imposed on Enron for not supplying power during the period. Enron disputes the fine. Politicians in Maharashtra say the cost of Dabhol power is too high and have called for renegotiating the tariff. Others have suggested selling power to nearby power-hungry states. Politicians complain Dabhol's costs have averaged more than 4 rupees (11 cents) as against 1.8 rupees (four cents) per unit agreed in 1995 for the naphtha-generated electricity from the 740-megawatt plant. The controversy erupted last year when prices shot up to 7 rupees (15 cents) per unit because of worldwide fluctuations of oil prices and depreciation of the Indian rupee. Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Enron to meet government for talks on power dispute By RAMOLA TALWAR BADAM Associated Press Writer 05/22/2001 Associated Press Newswires Copyright 2001. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. BOMBAY, India (AP) - The Indian subsidiary of American power giant Enron said Tuesday it would meet government officials for talks on a power supply dispute. "We look forward to hearing the proposed solutions ... particularly relating to creditworthy purchases for the power," said a statement from Dabhol Power Company, Enron's Indian unit. The statement comes two days after the company issued a preliminary notice to the Maharashtra State Electricity Board, a state-run utility, that it would stop supplying electricity if the government company continued to default on payments. Enron representatives will meet officials from the western Indian state of Maharashtra, where the project is located, and federal government and MSEB officials Wednesday. The MSEB has denied it defaulted on paying electricity bills to the power company that is setting up a dlrs 3 billion project in Maharashtra state. MSEB officials said overdue December and January bills of dlrs 48 million should be offset against a fine of 4 billion rupees (dlrs 85.31 million) it imposed on Enron for not supplying power during the period. Enron disputes the fine. Politicians in Maharashtra say the cost of Dabhol power is too high and have called for renegotiating the tariff. Others have suggested selling power to nearby power-hungry states. Politicians complain Dabhol's costs have averaged more than 4 rupees (11 cents) as against 1.8 rupees (four cents) per unit agreed in 1995 for the naphtha-generated electricity from the 740-megawatt plant. The controversy erupted last year when prices shot up to 7 rupees (15 cents) per unit because of worldwide fluctuations of oil prices and depreciation of the Indian rupee. (rtb, nnm-js) Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. INDIA: WRAPUP 1-Indian state questions power deals, cites Enron. By Sriram Ramakrishnan 05/22/2001 Reuters English News Service (C) Reuters Limited 2001. BOMBAY, May 22 (Reuters) - India's ambitious plans to throw open its cash-strapped power sector to the private sector, already wracked by controversy involving Enron , received a further setback after Karnataka state said it would reopen sealed deals with 11 power firms. The technology-friendly southern state of Karnataka said late on Monday that it was re-opening power deals with 11 private sector firms which together were due to meet half the state's demand over the next 10 years. "Enron is a lesson for all of us. Now, it (electricity) cannot be at any cost," V.P. Baligar, chairman and managing director, Karnataka State Power Transmission Corp (KPTCL), the state's monopoly power distributor, told Reuters in an interview late on Monday. The 11 power projects are based on the Enron model and involve a total of 2,000 megawatts (MW). None of the 11 projects have started generation. Analysts fear that Karnataka's move, coming amidst the raging controversy over Enron's giant power project, will scare away badly needed private investment from the country's inefficient power sector. India needs to add 100,000 MW of power over the next 10-15 years to meet growing demand and is hoping to get this through investment from private and foreign companies. But investment has been hampered by a slow-moving bureaucracy, legal hassles and loss-making utilities who are frequently unable to pay for the power purchased. ENRON IMBROGLIO Last week, Enron's Dabhol Power Company moved to break a contract to sell power to Maharashtra state, peeved over payment defaults by the state utility Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB). This is widely seen as leading to a pull out. MSEB and Dabhol have been at loggerheads for over six months over payments due to DPC by the state utility. The project has been marred by controversy since its inception in 1991, with critics charging that it was charging too much for the power it produced. MSEB, which DPC says owes it $48 million, is planning to retaliate by slapping a penalty of 4.0 billion rupees ($85.2 million) on DPC for failing to ramp up capacity. "We will issue the penalty as soon as the bill for May is received," the official, who did not want to be quoted, told Reuters on Tuesday. MSEB had imposed a similar penalty on DPC - which DPC has not paid - saying its plant could not be ramped upto full capacity within three hours from a cold start. DPC officials refused to comment on the issue. The Enron project was first billed as a showcase of India's decade-old reform programme but now is regarded by critics as a symbol of policy bungling. The project involves the setting up of a 2,184 MW power project costing $2.9 billion in two phases. The first, of 740 MW, is up and running while the second, of 1,444 MW, is due to be commissioned next month. ( $1 = 46.9 rupees). Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Enron pulls out of venture drilling in Qatar's waters 05/22/2001 Associated Press Newswires Copyright 2001. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. HOUSTON (AP) - Executives of Enron Corp. say they are withdrawing from a large natural gas project off Qatar, partly because the venture doesn't fit with the energy company's focus. Plans for the Dolphin project called for Houston-based Enron to work with Elf, a subsidiary of France's Total Fina, and the United Arab Emirates Offsets Group to develop and pipe natural gas from a block of the Qatar North Field. But the company pulled out, believing there are better places to invest its money, said Alex Parsons, a company spokesman in London. He said the project doesn't fit with Enron's current focus of emphasizing businesses such as marketing and trading in wholesale markets such as those for natural gas and electricity and broadband. Those involved with the project said last year it could end up requiring investments of up to dlrs 10 billion over six or seven years. Enron said Monday it was transferring its 24.5 percent stake in the project to the United Arab Emirates Offsets Group, which said in a news release it had started negotiating with other international players to become stakeholders. With the transfer, United Arab Emirates Offsets Group will own 75.5 percent of Dolphin. Terms of the deal weren't released. Enron said it would consider future ventures with the United Arab Emirates Offsets Group that were "in line with our core business activities." M. Carol Coale, an energy analyst with Prudential Securities in Houston, said Enron's move is consistent with its exit strategy from international assets that generate low returns. Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. GERMANY: Enron says Lampertheim hub attracting interest. 05/22/2001 Reuters English News Service (C) Reuters Limited 2001. DUESSELDORF, May 22 (Reuters) - U.S. trader Enron said on tuesday there was growing support for the south west German Lampterheim gas hub it had been actively promoting since early April. "Liquidity is growing slowly, it is not (Belgian hub) Zeebrugge, but customers are posting orders and are coming forward with surplus amounts," sales chief Helge-Juergen Beil of the company's German division in Frankfurt told Reuters during a Euroforum industry conference. "Our main strength is that we both sell and buy for various periods." Beil said a number of deals had been done, but would not quantify them. Enron on its trading platform enrononline.com currently quotes Lampertheim gas sales and purchases in parcels of 20 megawatt hours in euros for the spot market and the year ahead. The town, near Heidelberg on the border of the Hesse and Baden-Wuerttemberg states, complements border hubs such as Bunde-Oude, Aachen, Baumgarten, Waidhaus and Oberkappel. Beil also said Enron was supplying eight local and regional utilities and industrial gas customers in central and southern Germany with a total four terawatt hours of annual demand. Enron's share of total requirements in each case varied between 20 and 94 percent of their annual purchases. He said non-discriminatory access to the German pipeline grid had not been achieved by newcomers to the market. In order to help create fair rules for access and their montoring, Enron, like other newcomers, was demanding a state-installed arbiter to supervise the liberalisation process. Other speakers at the conference said the success of newcomers was still hampered by the long distribution chain and an enforced need for hourly, rather than longer term, balancing, which could cause exorbitant penalties payable to incumbents. But some gas grid owners had turned out to be co-operative, customers were queueing up, and there were prospects that existing surplus gas volumes from international take-or-pay contracts could be freed up and eventually traded. Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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