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Enron Mail |
-----Original Message----- From: =09Schmidt, Ann =20 Sent:=09Tuesday, May 22, 2001 5:19 PM Subject:=09Enron Mentions =09 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 power= less and profitless, but Houston, the nation's energy capital and home to t= he 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 pla= ns. Not since the boom days of 1982, when trophy architects like Philip Joh= nson and I.M. Pei reconfigured the skyline, has Houston seen so much constr= uction activity by the energy sector. Leading the parade, ironically, is E= nron, an old energy behemoth that has reinvented itself as a high-tech trad= ing firm dealing in everything from natural gas to Internet bandwidth. In f= act, its new 40-story headquarters, designed by Cesar Pelli, will be fronte= d by a seven-story "podium"--or shorter building--to house what Enron is ca= lling the largest commodities-trading environment in the world. This envir= onment, 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 Ol= d World (crude oil, petrochemicals, steel and lumber) to New World (emissio= n credits and derivatives). Chairman Kenneth Lay and CEO Jeff Skilling are = even moving from their skyboxes to work in seventh-floor offices so they ca= n peer down into the pit. When the bigger 40-story structure is finished i= n December, Enron's will be the first new skyscraper in downtown Houston si= nce 1987--to be followed by three more by 2003. Besides Enron, Calpine Corp= ., the nation's leading independent-power company, based in California, wil= l move into a new 32-story high-rise. And Reliant Resources, the IPO spun o= ff this month from its Houston parent to deal with Texas' new deregulated e= lectricity market, has signed on for offices in a 36-story skyscraper. Wha= t's fueling the high-rise fever is simple: excess cash. Enron's first-quart= er 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 busin= ess, with companies having shut offices from New Orleans to Oklahoma, dereg= ulation and new marketing strategies are sparking Houston's renaissance. "E= nron is a leading example of the new energy industry. Ten years ago, there = were no trading floors," points out Stephen Brown, senior economist with th= e Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas. Both Calpine and Reliant will also have t= rading 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 15,00= 0 energy-sector jobs two years ago, says Barton Smith, director of the Inst= itute 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 bragg= ing rights. After a bad decade, they're beginning to sound like the biggest= and the best in Texas again. "Boomlet?" says Laura Schwartz, spokeswoman a= t Enron. "It's more than a mini-boom. It's a boom." =09 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.=20 "We look forward to hearing the proposed solutions ... particularly relatin= g to creditworthy purchases for the power," said a statement from Dabhol Po= wer 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 wo= uld stop supplying electricity if the government company continued to defau= lt on payments.=20 Representatives from Houston-based Enron will meet Wednesday with officials= from the utility, the federal government and Maharashtra, the western Indi= an state where the project is located.=20 The MSEB has denied it defaulted on paying electricity bills to the power c= ompany that is setting up a $3 billion project in Maharashtra state. MSEB o= fficials said overdue December and January bills of $48 million should be o= ffset against a fine of $85.31 million it imposed on Enron for not supplyin= g power during the period. Enron disputes the fine.=20 Politicians in Maharashtra say the cost of Dabhol power is too high and hav= e called for renegotiating the tariff. Others have suggested selling power = to nearby power-hungry states.=20 Politicians complain Dabhol's costs have averaged more than 4 rupees (11 ce= nts) as against 1.8 rupees (four cents) per unit agreed in 1995 for the nap= htha-generated electricity from the 740-megawatt plant.=20 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. =09 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 sa= id Tuesday it would meet government officials for talks on a power supply d= ispute.=20 "We look forward to hearing the proposed solutions ... particularly relatin= g to creditworthy purchases for the power," said a statement from Dabhol Po= wer 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 wo= uld stop supplying electricity if the government company continued to defau= lt on payments.=20 Enron representatives will meet officials from the western Indian state of = Maharashtra, where the project is located, and federal government and MSEB = officials Wednesday.=20 The MSEB has denied it defaulted on paying electricity bills to the power c= ompany that is setting up a dlrs 3 billion project in Maharashtra state. MS= EB officials said overdue December and January bills of dlrs 48 million sho= uld be offset against a fine of 4 billion rupees (dlrs 85.31 million) it im= posed on Enron for not supplying power during the period. Enron disputes th= e fine.=20 Politicians in Maharashtra say the cost of Dabhol power is too high and hav= e called for renegotiating the tariff. Others have suggested selling power = to nearby power-hungry states.=20 Politicians complain Dabhol's costs have averaged more than 4 rupees (11 ce= nts) as against 1.8 rupees (four cents) per unit agreed in 1995 for the nap= htha-generated electricity from the 740-megawatt plant.=20 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.=20 (rtb, nnm-js) Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. =09 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-s= trapped 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.=20 The technology-friendly southern state of Karnataka said late on Monday tha= t 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 co= st," V.P. Baligar, chairman and managing director, Karnataka State Power Tr= ansmission Corp (KPTCL), the state's monopoly power distributor, told Reute= rs in an interview late on Monday.=20 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.=20 Analysts fear that Karnataka's move, coming amidst the raging controversy o= ver Enron's giant power project, will scare away badly needed private inves= tment from the country's inefficient power sector.=20 India needs to add 100,000 MW of power over the next 10-15 years to meet gr= owing demand and is hoping to get this through investment from private and = foreign companies.=20 But investment has been hampered by a slow-moving bureaucracy, legal hassle= s and loss-making utilities who are frequently unable to pay for the power = purchased.=20 ENRON IMBROGLIO=20 Last week, Enron's Dabhol Power Company moved to break a contract to sell p= ower to Maharashtra state, peeved over payment defaults by the state utilit= y Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB). This is widely seen as leadin= g to a pull out.=20 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 to= o much for the power it produced.=20 MSEB, which DPC says owes it $48 million, is planning to retaliate by slapp= ing a penalty of 4.0 billion rupees ($85.2 million) on DPC for failing to r= amp up capacity.=20 "We will issue the penalty as soon as the bill for May is received," the of= ficial, who did not want to be quoted, told Reuters on Tuesday.=20 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.=20 The Enron project was first billed as a showcase of India's decade-old refo= rm programme but now is regarded by critics as a symbol of policy bungling.= =20 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.=20 ( $1 =3D 46.9 rupees). Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. =09 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 la= rge natural gas project off Qatar, partly because the venture doesn't fit w= ith the energy company's focus.=20 Plans for the Dolphin project called for Houston-based Enron to work with E= lf, a subsidiary of France's Total Fina, and the United Arab Emirates Offse= ts Group to develop and pipe natural gas from a block of the Qatar North Fi= eld. But the company pulled out, believing there are better places to invest its= money, said Alex Parsons, a company spokesman in London.=20 He said the project doesn't fit with Enron's current focus of emphasizing b= usinesses such as marketing and trading in wholesale markets such as those = for natural gas and electricity and broadband.=20 Those involved with the project said last year it could end up requiring in= vestments of up to dlrs 10 billion over six or seven years.=20 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 stakeho= lders.=20 With the transfer, United Arab Emirates Offsets Group will own 75.5 percent= of Dolphin. Terms of the deal weren't released.=20 Enron said it would consider future ventures with the United Arab Emirates = Offsets Group that were "in line with our core business activities."=20 M. Carol Coale, an energy analyst with Prudential Securities in Houston, sa= id Enron's move is consistent with its exit strategy from international ass= ets that generate low returns. Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. =09 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.=20 "Liquidity is growing slowly, it is not (Belgian hub) Zeebrugge, but custom= ers 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."=20 Beil said a number of deals had been done, but would not quantify them.=20 Enron on its trading platform enrononline.com currently quotes Lampertheim = gas sales and purchases in parcels of 20 megawatt hours in euros for the sp= ot market and the year ahead.=20 The town, near Heidelberg on the border of the Hesse and Baden-Wuerttemberg= states, complements border hubs such as Bunde-Oude, Aachen, Baumgarten, Wa= idhaus and Oberkappel.=20 Beil also said Enron was supplying eight local and regional utilities and i= ndustrial gas customers in central and southern Germany with a total four t= erawatt hours of annual demand.=20 Enron's share of total requirements in each case varied between 20 and 94 p= ercent of their annual purchases.=20 He said non-discriminatory access to the German pipeline grid had not been = achieved by newcomers to the market.=20 In order to help create fair rules for access and their montoring, Enron, l= ike other newcomers, was demanding a state-installed arbiter to supervise t= he liberalisation process.=20 Other speakers at the conference said the success of newcomers was still ha= mpered by the long distribution chain and an enforced need for hourly, rath= er than longer term, balancing, which could cause exorbitant penalties paya= ble to incumbents.=20 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 fro= m international take-or-pay contracts could be freed up and eventually trad= ed. Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. =09
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