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Enron Mail |
Cheney's Role Offers Strengths And Liabilities
The Washington Post, 05/17/01 Dolphin to Invite Companies for $4 Bln Gas Project, Paper Says Bloomberg, 05/17/01 UK: ANALYSIS-Spanish boom spurs wave of new power plants. Reuters English News Service, 05/17/01 Middle East flame burns ever brighter as exports hot up Lloyd's List International, 05/17/01 Enron Joins Alberta's Natural Gas Exchange Dow Jones Energy Service, 05/16/01 Enron could lose Brazil environmental lincence - Rio state official AFX News, 05/16/01 Creditors' of PG&E's Utility Form Information Clearinghouse Bloomberg, 05/16/01 A Section Cheney's Role Offers Strengths And Liabilities Mike Allen and Dana Milbank Washington Post Staff Writers 05/17/2001 The Washington Post FINAL A01 Copyright 2001, The Washington Post Co. All Rights Reserved The key to the energy proposal President Bush unveils today can be found on a wall in the three-room suite that houses his National Energy Policy Development Group, next door to the White House in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. On the wall hangs a huge erasable board that serves as a giant checklist to guide the preparation of the administration's eight-chapter energy policy, which Bush formally unveils in Minnesota today. For each chapter, there's a check mark for two rough drafts, a peer review, a final draft, two more rounds of recommendations on the drafts, then graphics and photos. Toward the end of the checklist is an all-important box to check: "Concurrence of the OVP." The OVP -- Office of the Vice President -- has driven every aspect of the energy report. No proposed recommendation has survived without the consent of one man: Vice President Cheney, the administration's indispensable man -- and chair of the energy task force. The release of the energy report shines a new spotlight on Cheney, a quiet conservative from Wyoming who has been given credit for running the show without annoying or upstaging his boss. The handling of the energy task force so far reflects Cheney's personality near perfectly: It is a closely held process with a high regard for the concerns of industry. This close involvement of Cheney is partially a strength, because the effort has been efficient and well-managed. But Cheney's strong role is also potentially the report's weakness. He is about to undergo a blast of unwanted scrutiny as critics seize on his finances and oil industry ties in an effort to discredit the policy. Democrats and environmental groups are charging that his judgment on energy matters is suspect because of his chairmanship until August of Halliburton Co., a Dallas-based energy services firm that is expected to benefit from several parts of President Bush's policy. Cheney, 60, made $36 million last year, most it in compensation from Halliburton, including salary and his exercise of stock options and sale of restricted stock. "He is seeing the problem entirely from the side of the energy producing industry that made him a millionaire, not from a consumer struggling to make ends meet," said Philip E. Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust. An official close to Cheney called such suggestions "an outrage," and said his expertise in the industry and knowledge of its technology were crucial to "trying to solve a problem of this magnitude." Although the plan has extensive recommendations about using technology to conserve energy and produce power more cleanly, the heart of the report is its conclusion that the United States needs hundreds more power plants, natural gas pipelines, oil wells and nuclear reactors. Several administration officials acknowledged that Cheney had handed ammunition to his critics by declaring in a speech in Toronto on April 30 that conservation "may be a sign of personal virtue," but is not a sound basis for a comprehensive energy policy. "Given his background, he should've been real careful," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who has offered an alternative energy plan that he says focuses equally on supply and demand. "I think they've had some real stumbles." Sen. Craig Thomas (R), who succeeded Cheney as Wyoming's lone House member in 1989, said he does not expect such criticism to rattle the circumspect Cheney. "He'll just say, 'All right. That's the way it is, folks. I'm doing my job. Here's my plan,' " Thomas said. As always when questions are asked about Cheney's influence, White House officials argue vigorously that the energy plan is Bush's plan. An official close to Bush said Cheney and other task force members had updated the president often since beginning their work on Jan. 29. "At several critical decision points, the group has come to the president to ask him to make judgments and decisions," the official said. Cheney's directions are carried out by the task force's executive director, Andrew Lundquist, his deputy, Karen Knudsen, and four other staff members. Cheney also chairs the task force itself, which includes the secretaries of energy, interior, treasury, agriculture, commerce and transportation and the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Aides say Cheney met with only half a dozen of the interest groups seeking input into the policy, including Enron Corp., the Houston energy conglomerate that is a large and longtime Bush contributor, and the Edison Electric Institute, an energy trade group. Vance Meyer, a spokesman for Enron, said the firm's chairman, Kenneth Lay, and another executive had a 30-minute meeting with Cheney. Edison assembled 15 or 20 chief executives to meet with Cheney. But Lundquist and Knudsen, representing Cheney, met with half of the 400 or so groups -- industry, environmental, regulatory and academic -- that requested access. Exactly which groups the Cheney advisers met with is being kept secret by the White House. The task force's stealthy operation reflects Cheney's distaste for publicity. Following news reports about the private nature of the energy deliberations, Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and Government Reform Committee requested information about the groups the task force met with. Cheney's counsel, David S. Addington, rebuffed the members of Congress, arguing that there was no legal requirement to comply with the request. In a seven-page response to the request, Lundquist wrote that the meetings "were simply forums to collect individual views rather than to bring a collective judgment to bear." White House officials have declined to disclose the list of meetings or attendees. Aides said representatives at the meetings included 118 energy industry or corporate groups, 40 renewable energy providers, 22 unions, 13 environmental groups, five academics, 63 governmental groups, six energy efficiency proponents and a consumer group. Environmentalists complain that the meetings reflected Cheney's predispositions. The vice president met with industry leaders, while dispatching aides to speak to environmentalists, several of which were grouped into one meeting. The meetings of 22 labor representatives, who gathered in groups, were publicized by the White House, but sessions with industry were not. Cheney, who declined to be interviewed for this article, told the Associated Press that he hasn't consulted with any officials from Halliburton and rejected the notion that the task force's work is compromised by his private meetings with industry officials who give money to the Republican Party. "Just because somebody makes a campaign contribution doesn't mean that they should be denied the opportunity to express their views to government officials," he said. Cheney chaired nine meetings of the Cabinet-level task force, mostly in his ceremonial office. Each of the meetings, attended by the task force members and aides, lasted 90 minutes, with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and Bush economic adviser Lawrence B. Lindsey often reflecting different interests. For 20 minutes at the end of each session, Cheney told staffers to leave the room so the top officials could settle differences privately, without risk of the differences being leaked to the news media. In only a few cases did Bush have to resolve disputes among advisers, participants said. In most cases, Cheney was able discreetly to broker agreement among the Cabinet members. http://www.washingtonpost.com Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Dolphin to Invite Companies for $4 Bln Gas Project, Paper Says 2001-05-17 03:00 (New York) Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, May 17 (Bloomberg) -- Dolphin Energy Ltd. of the United Arab Emirates will invite companies to pre-qualify this month for a $4 billion project to build the Middle East's first cross-border gas pipeline network, Al-Hayat said. Dolphin, in which U.S.'s Enron Corp. and France's TotalFinaElf SA share a 49 percent stake, will ask for designs and quotes May 19-23 for most stages of the network, from the delivery of gas from Qatar's offshore North field to its final destination in Dubai, the paper said. The network includes a 2-billion cubic-feet-per-day gas -processing plant in Qatar, a 220-mile sub-sea pipeline from Qatar to Abu Dhabi, and an overland pipeline from Abu Dhabi to Dubai, the paper said, citing a Dolphin statement. The first delivery via the network will be in 2005. Qatar, which owns the world's third-largest gas reserves, and the U.A.E. want the network to form the core of a regional grid to power electricity and water-desalination plants, as well as gas-based industries, for decades to come. (Al-Hayat 5/17 p.11) For Al-Hayat's Web site see {WNLB <GO<} UK: ANALYSIS-Spanish boom spurs wave of new power plants. By Margaret Orgill 05/17/2001 Reuters English News Service (C) Reuters Limited 2001. LONDON, May 17 (Reuters) - Electricity companies are flocking to build dozens of new power stations in Spain, attracted by surging energy demand and a looming shortfall in local electricity supplies. Spanish and foreign firms have proposed around 40 new gas-fired power stations although not all will go ahead, delegates heard at an energy conference in Madrid. "How many of these projects get realised depends on the permitting process...and the capacity of the gas system," Agustin Llana, manager for gas and power at Shell Espana told the conference. Spain urgently needs the new power stations or it could face a crisis similar to that in California where power prices rocketed and the state suffered rolling blackouts, say analysts. Electricity demand has grown by 30 percent since the early 1990s while new generating capacity has risen just five percent. "If we look at new capacity needs, Spain needs between 1,000 and 1,500 MW a year at least," said Pedro Larrea, vice president of energy management at utility Endesa. Spain does not have any gas-fired generation at present and the lure of a lucrative "dash to gas" has prompted ambitious expansion plans by local utilities, who have until now relied on hydro, nuclear and coal, and ventures by independent power producers (IPPs). The new proposed combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power stations have a capacity of around 30 gigawatts and would raise Spain's existing capacity by two thirds if they all go ahead. FOREIGN NEW ENTRANTS LINE UP Of this total, more than 14 GW is proposed by large Spanish power utilities with around 10 GW from IPPs and the remaining four GW from other local companies. Industry experts say many projects will not get off the drawing board and only six to eight GW of capacity will in fact be built by 2004/2005. Spain is opening its electricity market to competition in line with a trend in the European Union. Fifty five percent of the sector is liberalised and the government plans full deregulation in 2003. Endesa and the other leading Spanish utility Iberdrola have 80 percent of the generation market between them with the rest divided between Union Fenosa and Hidroelectrica del Cantabrico. New entrants include Intergen, a joint venture between Shell and engineering firm Bechtel, and U.S. utilities Edison Mission Energy and Enron Corp. LOCAL UTILITIES START BUILDING POWER STATIONS Local companies are ahead in the permitting process which can take up to two years and involves getting over 20 local and national licences. Endesa, for example, has started building work on a 1,200 MW power station whereas no IPPs are believed to have begun building. "(Most) applications are from electricity utilities. We are in the queue but way down," said Erik Gustafson, manager of business development at Intergen which has plans to build a 1,200 MW plant at Catadau in Valencia. The main problems facing IPPs like Intergen are obtaining gas supplies, the linking of gas prices to oil rather than to electricity and government delays in issuing new gas transport terms, he told the conference. Spain has no gas supplies of its own and while the monopoly of Gas Natural, controlled by Repsol has been ended by the government, new entrants have been slow to make inroads into the market. "Financing depends on gas. The real key is whether the gas market can become more liquid," said Gustafson. Another worry for IPPs are Gas Natural's ambitions to move into generation with plans announced to build 4,400 MW capacity which could restrict gas supplies for new entrants. "If Gas Natural have 4,400 MW up and running, they will go to the top of the list and get all the (gas) capacity. We will be stuck in Valencia without any gas," said Gustafson. Spain's natural gas demand is expected to double to 35 billion cubic metres a year by 2010, with most of the growth from 2005 onwards from power generation. Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Middle East flame burns ever brighter as exports hot up 05/17/2001 Lloyd's List International 18 Copyright (C) 2001 LLoyds List; Source: World Reporter (TM) Exports of LNG from the Middle East - Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Oman - leapt 55% in 2000, climbing to 17.1m tonnes from 11.1m the previous year. Oman became the world's 12th LNG export nation during the year, despatching shipments to South Korea, the US, Japan and Spain. The Middle East now accounts for 17% of all LNG exports, a percentage which will continue to grow in the years ahead. Not only are deliveries under long-term contracts with Japan and South Korea building toward plateau but also new purchase deals have been struck with India and negotiations are underway with a wide mix of potential customers. In March a third Qatari LNG company - Ras Laffan LNG Company 2 (Rasgas 2) - was established to supply gas to India. Rasgas 2 has signed a deal with Petronet of India to provide 7.5m tonnes of LNG per annum (mta) for a period of 25 years, commencing in late 2003. Two-thirds of the gas will be shipped to a new import terminal at Dahej in Gujarat state and the remaining third to Cochin in Kerala. Plans for a similar agreement with another Indian company, Dakshin Bharat Energy Consortium, are moving ahead. This calls for delivery of 2.6 mta to India for 25 years, also from 2003. Rasgas 2 will build two LNG production trains, each of 4.7 mta capacity, at its Ras Laffan complex to meet the bulk of this new Indian commitment. These trains, which will be the world's largest, will be constructed alongside the two 3.3 mta LNG trains by the original RasGas company. Rasgas 2 will be owned 70% by Qatar Petroleum and 30% by ExxonMobil, but the equity split will be slightly at a later stage to allow for taking a 5% share. Qatar has come a long way since the other LNG company, Qatargas, launthe country on to the world LNG stage in 1997 with its first shipment to Japan. Even after the Petronet deal - the world's largest LNG sale - there are no plans to ease back on developments. Last month Qatar announced it would sign a one-off deal with Spain for the sale of up to 1.5m tonnes of LNG. The Gulf emirate is also talking to Lebanon, France, Italy, China and Taiwan about the the possibility of export contracts that would total 12 mta. Qatar's LNG exports utilise gas from the offshore North Field, the world's largest single source of non-associated gas. In April 2000 Oman loaded its first cargo at the new Qalhat terminal - a shipment for South Korea. Oman LNG has contracts to supply Japanese and South Korean customers with 4.8 mta of LNG for 25 years, and has finalised a deal to provide 1.6 mta for India's Dabhol project. In addition, 17 cargoes are being delivered to Spain over a 14-month period ending in December 2001 under a one-off agreement. Several spot cargoes have also been shipped to the US, an activity which is likely to continue. Deliveries to Dabhol, for use in a combined cycle power plant, were due to commence at the end of 2001, but the project has run into difficulties due to a dispute over electricity pricing the state of and Enron, the developer of the power plant and LNG import terminal. This could jeopardise this facility - the largest gas-fired power plant in the world - and is the only dark cloud on what is otherwise an bright horizon for Middle East LNG.The future is bright: Qatar became the fourth largest exporter of LNG in 2000. Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Enron Joins Alberta's Natural Gas Exchange 05/16/2001 Dow Jones Energy Service (Copyright © 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) CALGARY -(Dow Jones)- A battle for better representation of natural gas trades on Alberta's primary electronic exchange has been resolved between NGX Canada Inc. and Enron Canada Corp. Enron, a subsidiary of of Houston-based Enron Corp. (ENE) and the largest natural gas marketer in Alberta, will start entering real-time data into NGX's system by August, expanding the exchange's database to a more realistic one, spokesman Eric Thode told Dow Jones Newswires Wednesday. In turn, the marketing giant has withdrawn a C$101 million law suit against the Alberta exchange, and two other electronic trading companies claiming that NGX skewed price indexes by using only that exchange's data, and caused Enron to lose millions of dollars. "We felt that NGX was not giving a true picture of the Alberta gas market and that had a monetary impact on trade indices," Thode said. Enron sells approximately 7 billion cubic feet to 7.5 Bcf a day of Alberta gas compared to an average 1.5 Bcf a day traded on NGX. The marketer will trade data from its EnronOnline daily spot, one-month spot and bid-week spot gas transactions with NGX, starting in August once the two houses implement the necessary system adjustments. Industry will receive a 30-day notice of the market change. Including Enron's data will substantially improve the quality of NGX's indexes, said president Peter Krenkel. "The more data that is in the index computation, the more representative the index is of the market and then more comfortable clients are in using it to settle contracts," Krenkel said. The exchange, a subsidiary of OM Gruppen AB of Sweden, an international exchange operator, had been restricted to deals conducted on NGX after buying Canadian Enerdata Ltd.'s day, month and bid-week spot gas price indexes last September, he explained. Now NGX will include Enron's immediate, real-time transactions off of data feeds between EnronOnline and the Alberta exchange. Enron clients will have the option to trade on either or both exchanges, Krenkel said. The Alberta exchange will compute the index from all data received on a weighted-average basis. Traders in Calgary, seat of the Canadian natural gas industry, were encouraged to hear Enron's transactions and volumes will flow straight into the NGX system because of concerns the marketer would not provide immediate volumes. "I just want to make sure we see where the real-time volumes are," one trader said. "The more trades we get in, the better for a better-weighted index." An independent auditor hired by NGX will monitor the system on a regular basis for irregular trading activities. -By Dina O'Meara, Dow Jones Newswires; 403-531-2912 dina.omeara@dowjones.com Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Enron could lose Brazil environmental lincence - Rio state official 05/16/2001 AFX News © 2001 by AFP-Extel News Ltd SAO PAULO (AFX) - Enron Corp's environmental license may be withdrawn if it suspends investments of 600 mln usd in the expansion of two thermoelectric plants, news agency JB Online quoted Rio de Janeiro state energy, naval industry and petroleum secretary Wagner Victer as saying. "There are no reasons to worry because if Enron doesn't do it (invest), another company will... Not only will they lose an excellent deal but they will also lose their environmental license," JB Online quoted Victer as saying. Yesterday, Enron vice-president and Eletricidade e Servicos SA Elektro chairman Orlando Gonzales said the company is suspending investments in the Brazilian energy sector due to the lack of clear regulations for the sector. mg/as For more information and to contact AFX: www.afxnews.com and www.afxpress.com Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Creditors' of PG&E's Utility Form Information Clearinghouse 2001-05-16 19:13 (New York) Creditors' of PG&E's Utility Form Information Clearinghouse San Francisco, May 16 (Bloomberg) -- A panel appointed to represent the interests of creditors in PG&E Corp.'s Pacific Gas and Electric unit's Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization created a clearinghouse for news and information on the case. The clearinghouse will be managed by Rogers & Associates, a Los Angeles-based public relations firm. The firm will distribute news and statements, the creditors' committee said in a statement. The clearinghouse was established ``to ensure that the media has a source of timely and reliable information,'' the creditors' committee said. Pacific Gas & Electric filed for bankruptcy on April 6 after running up $9 billion in losses buying electricity for more than it could charge customers. Under California's deregulation laws, wholesale power prices were allowed to float while customer rates were frozen. The filing was the largest ever for a utility and the third-largest Chapter 11 case in U.S. history. On April 10, the U.S. Trustee in San Francisco appointed a committee of 11 unsecured creditors to represent the interests of the estimated 30,000 companies and individuals with claims against Pacific Gas. The members of the creditors' committee are: KES Kingsburg LP, Dynegy Power Marketing Inc., Enron Corp. and affiliates, the City of Palo Alto, the State of Tennessee, GWF Power System, Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., Bank of America Corp.'s Bank of America N.A., The Davey Tree Co., U.S. Bank, and The Bank of New York Co. Inc. Parent company PG&E shares fell 52 cents to $11.00 on the New York Stock Exchange. --Jeff St.Onge in San Francisco (415) 743-3534 jstonge@bloomberg.net through the San Francisco newsroom/gcb
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