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Enron Mail |
USA: UPDATE 1-EnronOnline energy e-trade resumes after halt.
Reuters English News Service, 08/09/01 Calif Unlikely To File Criminal Case Vs Power Cos-Source Dow Jones Energy Service, 08/09/01 UK: UK prompt power slips, Teesside panic subsides. Reuters English News Service, 08/09/01 UK Power Market: Spot, Forwards Up On Plant Outage Dow Jones Energy Service, 08/09/01 Commission backs off on methane noise resolution Associated Press Newswires, 08/09/01 California Government Blamed Most for Energy Crisis, Poll Finds Bloomberg, 08/09/01 Neptune Project to Sell Undersea Power-Line Capacity This Year Bloomberg, 08/09/01 USA: UPDATE 1-EnronOnline energy e-trade resumes after halt. 08/09/2001 Reuters English News Service (C) Reuters Limited 2001. NEW YORK, Aug 9 (Reuters) - EnronOnline, the Internet arm of energy marketing and trading giant Enron Corp. , said Thursday that trade in its online energy products was resuming after a brief halt at about 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT). "Most people should be able to log on now. We've been slowly bringing it back," a company spokesman told Reuters. He said the cause of the outage was still not known. With an average of $3.5 billion in trades every day, EnronOnline enjoys the highest volume of all energy electronic platforms. The company posts bids and offers for a variety of energy products, including crude oil, heating oil, gasoline, natural gas and electricity. Enron Corp. is the No. 1 natural gas and electricity marketer in the United States, and about 60 percent of its transactions are captured through the electronic platform. Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Calif Unlikely To File Criminal Case Vs Power Cos-Source By Jason Leopold Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 08/09/2001 Dow Jones Energy Service (Copyright © 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) LOS ANGELES -(Dow Jones)- California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has yet to present a criminal grand jury with charges electricity generators illegally manipulated the state's wholesale power market, because his office still lacks substantial evidence, persons familiar with the matter told Dow Jones Newswires on Thursday. Lockyer announced in June he would present a grand jury with charges in early July. But one person close to the state's investigation said it's become increasingly clear that pursuing criminal charges against generators is "a dead issue," with civil suits appearing to be a better approach. "We can't prove that these energy companies illegally withheld supply or colluded to drive up prices," the person said. "But we can prove that electricity costs were higher and therefore try to pursue civil remedies." The attorney general's office and the California Public Utilities Commission are jointly investigating whether energy companies broke the law by withholding power supplies in an effort to boost wholesale prices. A Sacramento grand jury has been convened, but as yet no charges have been introduced against the generators, said PUC Commissioner Carl Wood. "Nothing has been initiated," said Wood, who wouldn't comment on the likelihood of charges being brought in the future. "Until we actually do anything, you're not going to get any speculation that we're on the verge of initiating a case tomorrow or the next day, for example." The person close to the investigation said evidence that the California Independent System Operator, manager of the state's electricity grid, routinely ordered generators to reduce output at some power plants may have hampered efforts to bring criminal charges. Lockyer's office and a Sacramento grand jury representative wouldn't comment, as grand jury matters are confidential. Power suppliers contacted by Dow Jones Newswires Thursday - including Duke Energy (DUK), Reliant Energy Inc. (REI), Enron Corp. (ENE) and Dynegy Inc. (DYN) - said they hadn't been subpoenaed by Lockyer's office or heard any more about the grand jury probe since Lockyer referred to it in June. "We have not been contacted, subpoeaned or asked or any information regarding this," Reliant spokesman Richard Wheatley said. The energy companies have denied wrongdoing, saying power prices spiked because demand outstripped supply. -By Jason Leopold, Dow Jones Newswires; 323-658-3874; jason.leopold@dowjones.com Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. UK: UK prompt power slips, Teesside panic subsides. 08/09/2001 Reuters English News Service (C) Reuters Limited 2001. LONDON, Aug 9 (Reuters) - British prompt electricity prices weakened on Thursday after panic triggered by news of an explosion at Enron's Teesside power station on Wednesday faded. "Most of the kneejerk recation to the Teesside news burned itself out today," said one trader. A third Enron worker died overnight from injuries caused by the explosion at the 1,875 MW gas-fired power station. The power station was closed immediately after the blast and the Health and Safety Executive said they were inspecting the site on Thursday. Baseload electricity for week 33, next week, sank to 17.20/17.25 pounds per megawatt hour compared with a high of 17.80 pounds late on Wednesday touched after news of the Teesside blast. Day ahead baseload opened at 17.50 pounds and eased to 17/17.05 pounds. Along the curve, September lost about six pence to end at 18.12/18.13 pence although most of the volume was traded at 18.17 pounds. Winter 01 baseload shed about 10 pence, trading in a range between 20.94 and 21.08 pounds. Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. UK Power Market: Spot, Forwards Up On Plant Outage 08/09/2001 Dow Jones Energy Service (Copyright © 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) LONDON -(Dow Jones)- U.K. spot and forward electricity prices were up Thursday on Enron's 1,875-megawatt plant outage at Teesside, but not as much as originally anticipated, said traders. Day-ahead base load traded early at GBP17.40-GBP17.50 a megawatt-hour, then went down to a low at GBP17.00/MWh, before climbing to trade late at GBP17.45/MWh. The closing price for this contract Wednesday was GBP17.25/MWh. Day-ahead peaks traded at GBP21.45-GBP21.60/MWh, up from Thursday's last trade at GBP21.45/MWh. Day-ahead extended peaks traded at GBP20.40-20.55/MWh. While these prices are up from Wednesday's, they are still down from Tuesday's. "The trend we're seeing reflects that demand is lower on Friday, that gas prices dropped 0.45 pence, and that there is about 700MW margin on the grid anyway, so while prices are up a little now, they are still down from before the Teesside incident," said a trader. "If Teesside had happened on a Monday or Tuesday, or if the plant was really putting a lot of output on the grid, we would have seen a more dramatic effect," said another trader. The weekend traded at GBP16.20/MWh. Week 33 base load traded at GBP17.25/MWh. Week 33 peaks traded at GBP21.20-GBP21.35/MWh. "No one saw any excess buying, and it's likely that the market was able to absorb Teesside by buying a lot from France - the facts that the interconnector was at full capacity and was bought at about a pound more than market value make this a likely explanation," said a trader. The forward market did not move significantly. "If anything, Winter 01 came down a bit, and this could have been on gas prices," said a trader. The Meteorological Office expects Friday's temperatures to be 1-2 degrees Celsius warmer than Thursday's. Heavy rain warnings are in effect for London, Norwich, and Southampton. Early next week the forecast predicts that temperatures will decline to below historical norms, by as much as 4 degrees Celsius in some regions. The Balancing Mechanism Reporting System said demand will peak Friday at 36,650 MW, with a trough of 23,867 MW. Demand peaked Thursday at 37,047 MW. The following forward contracts traded Wednesday. Figures are in GBP/MWh: Aug 9 Aug 8 Sept. Base 18.05-18.19 17.97-18.05 Sept. Peaks 24.10 Oct. Base 18.98-19.10 19.10 Winter 01 Base 20.94-21.08 21.06 Winter 01 Peaks 27.80-27.85 Summer 02 Base 17.84-17.85 17.90 Winter 02 Base 20.95-21.00 20.97-20.99 -By Sarah Spikes, Dow Jones Newswires; +44-(0)20-7842-9345; sarah.spikes@dowjones.com Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Commission backs off on methane noise resolution 08/09/2001 Associated Press Newswires Copyright 2001. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. GILLETTE, Wyo. (AP) - The Campbell County Commission has decided not to sign a resolution intended to resolve disputes over noisy machinery in the coalbed methane industry. "In working through this the commissioners felt this would be of no value," Commission Chairman Alan Weakly said. "These are things that we have been doing all along." Also, the resolution would be difficult to enforce. "We have no one to send this to but the Legislature and they are not meeting right now, so it has no teeth," Commissioner Jan Evans said. Commissioner Craig Mader called it "a paper Band-Aid on cancer." Residents of Eight Mile Subdivision west of Gillette last month asked commissioners to adopt a resolution so something could be done about noise from a nearby compressor station. Mader said that even though the resolution that has been drafted will not be signed, the commission will do what it can for the residents. He suggested going to the Wyoming Oil and Gas Commission. Bear Paw Energy LLC operates the compressor station for Enron. Mick Rafter, the company's operations manager, told the commission and residents that a list of modifications to the station has been completed. Subdivision resident Ron Moss said he recognizes some of the efforts Bear Paw has made. "But again, at 3:30 this morning, my eyes were wide open. There has been some progress and steps have been taken, but it is not the total answer," he said. Weakly told Moss the commission is not giving up on finding a solution. Weakly planned to discuss noise regulation concerns at a five-county coalbed methane coalition meeting in Douglas on Thursday. He hopes the coalition will be able to meet with Gov. Jim Geringer and the Oil and Gas Commission on the issue. "We will take it to them and start the process right now," he said. "Regardless of what the company does or doesn't do, the citizens have waited long enough." Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. California Government Blamed Most for Energy Crisis, Poll Finds 2001-08-09 15:45 (New York) California Government Blamed Most for Energy Crisis, Poll Finds Washington, Aug. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Almost twice as many Americans believe California government officials are responsible for the state's energy crisis than blame power generators or local utilities, a Bloomberg News poll found. One-third of those surveyed said that the state government bears most responsibility for the energy woes, while 19 percent blamed power-generating companies. Only 8 percent faulted the federal government. Those numbers are little changed from polls in June, April and March. President George Bush is gaining support for his handling of energy issues, according to the survey. The poll found 45 percent approved of his policies, up from 37 percent in June. The results come despite months of criticism of out of state power generators and Republicans in Washington by Democratic California Governor Gray Davis, who has accused firms such as Enron Corp., Duke Energy Corp., Dynegy Inc., Reliant Energy Inc. and Williams Cos. of manipulating the wholesale energy market. Davis is pressing federal regulators to order energy companies to refund $9.8 billion to the state, claiming energy companies overcharged California and its utilities for electricity. California in January stepped in and began buying power for PG&E Corp.'s and Edison International's utilities after the companies, the largest investor-owned utilities in the state, ran up billions in debt under the state's flawed deregulation law. PG&E's Pacific Gas & Electric filed for bankruptcy protection in April and Edison's Southern California Edison is seeking legislative approval for a financial rescue plan. No Crisis The poll also found that fewer people view the nation's energy situation as a crisis. Only 12 percent of those polled said the nation was in a `crisis,' down from 15 percent in June. Fifty- five percent said it was a `major problem,' down from 60 percent in June, the poll found. Nationally, developing a comprehensive energy program was listed by 9 percent of those polled as the top issue Bush and the U.S. Congress should address this year. Education reform was rated the most important issue by 24 percent of those polled. Social Security reform was cited by 20 percent, and adding prescription drug coverage to Medicare was cited by 19 percent as the most pressing issue facing the country's policy-makers, the poll found. The poll was based on interviews with 1,206 adults throughout the United States. It was taken July 31 to Aug. 5, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Neptune Project to Sell Undersea Power-Line Capacity This Year 2001-08-09 14:41 (New York) Neptune Project to Sell Undersea Power-Line Capacity This Year Pittsfield, Maine, Aug. 9 (Bloomberg) -- A partnership led by Cianbro Corp., a closely held construction company, will auction capacity on undersea power cables that may deliver power to light 4.8 million homes in the U.S. Northeast from Canada. Neptune Regional Transmission System LLC will take bids Sept. 10 through Oct. 5 on cables that would link New York, New Jersey and Long Island in 2003, spokesman Ed Krapels said. Bidding on longer lines connecting New Brunswick to New York, Nova Scotia to Boston, and Maine to Connecticut will continue through Nov 9. The auction will determine whether the $2 billion to $3 billion project proceeds, Krapels said. Construction must be approved by environmental regulators. The announcement came as the New York's Long Island Power Authority warned the fourth day of a heat wave could leave it short of power. ``We may be pushed beyond the limits of our supply today, if we don't keep up efforts to conserve electricity,'' Chairman Richard Kessel said in a statement. New York power prices rose as high as $267.50 a megawatt-hour this week, compared with an average price of $73.42 a megawatt- hour over the past three months, according to Bloomberg Energy Service statistics. A megawatt-hour can light 1,000 average U.S. homes for an hour. Neptune expects bids from utilities such as Consolidated Edison of New York, generators such as Calpine Corp., power marketers such as Enron Corp., and from gas producers. The Bush Administration's National Energy Plan calls for increased energy imports from Canada to help avert shortages. Canada often has surplus power in summer, when electricity demand in the U.S. is high. The U.S. could export power in winter, when Canada needs it, Neptune has said. Pittsfield, Maine-based Cianbro's partners include ESAI Energy Ventures of Wakefield, Massachusetts; Tompkins Research and Management Consulting of Hartford, Connecticut; Standard Energy Development of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; and Curtis, Thaxter, Stevens, Broder, and Micoleau, the Portland-based law firm of former Maine Governor Kenneth Curtis, Krapels said. Paris-based Societe Generale is investment banker for the project, the company said.
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