Energy Companies in the U.S. Act to Protect Their Systems --- Delivery to Customers Is Said to Remain Normal
The Asian Wall Street Journal, 09/13/01
Pressure Builds For OPEC Rise Of Oil Output
The Wall Street Journal, 09/13/01
AMERICA ATTACKED: LEISURE AND ENTERTAINMENT ENERGY Oil, Gas Prices Settling Down U.S. officials try to assure motorists of adequate supplies, threaten action against price gougers.
Los Angeles Times, 09/13/01
Houston Energy Companies Resume Some Trading; Prices Remain Stable
Houston Chronicle - Texas, 09/13/01

LME Trading In Asia Normalizing,But Uncertainties Remain
Dow Jones International News, 09/13/01

INDIA PRESS: Lenders Against Buying Dabhol Foreign Equity
Dow Jones International News, 09/13/01
COMPANIES & FINANCE UK - Alkane on target to open 100 sites.
Financial Times, 09/13/01
Calif Senate Committee To Discuss Enron Sanctions Thu
Dow Jones Energy Service, 09/12/01
DPUC denies state money for Enron fuel cell project
Associated Press Newswires, 09/12/01
U.S. Physical Gas Prices Up; Converge With Oct On OTC
Dow Jones Energy Service, 09/12/01

Some U.S. Markets to Resume Trading After 2-Day Halt (Update5)
Bloomberg, 09/12/01

FuelCell Energy Says Connecticut Report Rejects Power Project
Bloomberg, 09/12/01




Energy Companies in the U.S. Act to Protect Their Systems --- Delivery to Customers Is Said to Remain Normal
By staff reporters Rebecca Smith, John Emshwiller and Alexei Barrionuevo

09/13/2001
The Asian Wall Street Journal
M6
(Copyright (c) 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)

Energy companies that control the electricity and natural-gas supplies in the U.S. as well as big oil companies went on heightened alert to safeguard the system from possible attack. 
Across the U.S., utility emergency control centers came to life and extra security patrols were initiated. But with thousands of kilometers of pipelines and transmission lines, it was largely a symbolic effort. With energy markets suspended and trading floors closed in New York and Houston, the biggest impact was financial.
In California, grid officials were preparing to order plants to operate Wednesday, according to work schedules submitted for Tuesday's market day. 
Enron Corp., Dynegy Inc. and Reliant Energy Inc. largely shut down their headquarters offices in Houston, except for essential personnel. However, they said they were maintaining normal deliveries of electricity and gas to customers. "We have a skeleton crew on the trading floor but I don't think anyone is focused on trading today," a Reliant spokesman said. 
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission ordered the nation's 104 nuclear reactors to implement heightened security plans although many utilities that own generating plants already had done so. Exelon Corp. put its 17 reactors at 10 plant sites on alert voluntarily -- and largely vacated its 60-plus floor headquarters office tower in downtown Chicago. "We sent everybody home we could," said Don Kirchoffner, head of communications for the firm that owns the old Commonwealth Edison and Philadelphia Electric utilities. "At our plants, we've doubled the security." 
Nuclear power plant containment buildings, where radioactive materials are housed, are "hardened" against wartime or terrorist attack. They are designed to withstand accidental air crashes as well as hurricanes, and have concrete walls up to 1.2 meters thick that lie outside heavy steel liners, often 2.54 centimeters thick. 
Nevertheless, critics always have feared that terrorists might be able to get inside the plants and cause mayhem. Edison International said it has asked the California Highway Patrol to monitor traffic along Interstate 5, which lies a short distance from its San Onofre nuclear plant south of Los Angeles that is operated by its Southern California Edison unit. 
Like companies everywhere, Tulsa-based Williams Cos. started the day by locating its top three levels of management. The energy company then traced staff travel to see whether any employees might have been in lower Manhattan or at the Pentagon at the time of the terrorist attacks. "We still don't know for sure," Williams spokesman Jim Gipson said. 
In the wake of the attacks, oil companies said they heightened security measures at refineries but no company reported a curtailment in the production of gasoline or other refined products. 
BP PLC, Shell Oil Co., Chevron Corp., Valero Energy Corp. and Phillips Petroleum Co. all said that their facilities were operating normally. 
A spokesman for Valero, of San Antonio, said the company instructed refinery managers in a morning conference call to restrict the flow of "outsiders" into its plants.

Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 	

Pressure Builds For OPEC Rise Of Oil Output
By Thaddeus Herrick and Rebecca Smith
Staff Reporters of The Wall Street Journal

09/13/2001
The Wall Street Journal
A2
(Copyright (c) 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)

With oil markets skittish from Tuesday's attack on the U.S., and crude-oil inventories falling below year-ago levels in much of the world, analysts say pressure is mounting on OPEC to increase output right away, rather than wait for a shortfall. 
Meanwhile, electric-grid managers and utilities across the U.S. continued to operate under heightened alert. Prices remained flat to lower, reflecting plentiful supplies and uncertainty about what lies ahead. "The freak-out factor is gone," said Greg Whalley, president of Enron Corp. in Houston. "Calm has returned."
The New York Mercantile Exchange, which has facilities in the blast-damaged World Financial Center in lower Manhattan, remained shuttered. Rival online-trading exchanges such as EnronOnline and Dynegy Direct resumed trading in Houston yesterday morning, but only on half-day schedules intended to make sure contracts were in place that would support physical deliveries of natural gas, oil and electricity for the next day. Once the need was met, traders went home. 
"Traders aren't robots," said Enron spokesman Mark Palmer. "They're not ready to sit around and make markets just yet." 
As a result, energy prices remained lethargic in light trading. Market makers at Enron and Dynegy -- who traditionally do best when volatility is high -- said they were trying to spread calm to energy markets that a day earlier appeared to tremble on the edge of an abyss. 
After spiking $1.55, or 6%, to $29 a barrel Tuesday, oil prices dropped yesterday; North Sea Brent settled at $28.87 a barrel for October delivery on London's International Petroleum Exchange, while prices for benchmark West Texas Intermediate fell to about $28.50 a barrel for the October price on the cash market from as high as $31 Tuesday. 
Saudi Arabia and Venezuela promised yesterday to do what is necessary to stabilize world markets, seeking to calm investors expecting U.S. retaliation for the terror at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, action that could conceivably target an oil-producing nation. 
But analysts said such increases in production need to come before the crisis escalates, a point that U.S. officials are widely seen as making to the Saudis, the world's largest oil exporter. 
OPEC, which has cut production by 3.5 million barrels a day this year, meets next in Vienna on Sept. 26. But even a few weeks is too long to wait, analysts say. 
"We don't have the luxury for OPEC to be reactive," said Larry Goldstein, president of the New York-based Petroleum Industry Research Foundation. "We need a cushion, some breathing room, a safety valve." 
But traders are wary, especially with the prospect of some sort of military strike by the U.S. Furthering that anxiety is a promise by President Bush that the U.S. would strike not only the terrorists responsible for the act, but also those who harbor them. 
Although Afghanistan, presumed home to Saudi exile Osama bin Laden, isn't an oil producer, plenty of other countries with known terrorist ties are, among them Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Libya and Syria. 
Daniel Yergin, chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates, a Cambridge, Mass., energy-research company, said he fears financial reverberations. He noted that the U.S. consumer has been the "firewall against a global recession" who now may find his sense of security so shaken that "confidence becomes the most precious commodity of all." 
--- 
Bhushan Bahree contributed to this article.

Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 	



Business; Financial Desk
AMERICA ATTACKED: LEISURE AND ENTERTAINMENT ENERGY Oil, Gas Prices Settling Down U.S. officials try to assure motorists of adequate supplies, threaten action against price gougers.
NANCY RIVERA BROOKS
TIMES STAFF WRITER

09/13/2001
Los Angeles Times
Home Edition
C-3
Copyright 2001 / The Times Mirror Company

Calm returned to oil and gasoline markets Wednesday as traders and retailers digested the good news of sufficient supplies--and got a stern talking-to from Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and other government officials. 
Oil prices had jumped to a nine-month high in London, and U.S. gasoline prices leaped as high as $5 a gallon in some places after Tuesday's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
Although reports of isolated gouging continued Wednesday, the feared surge at the pump failed to materialize because of wholesale price freezes by some major refiners and government threats of retaliation against profiteers. 
Gasoline demand was heavy Tuesday and Wednesday, producing lines at some stations and spot shortages, particularly the first day. 
"After a trauma, people feel they need to defend themselves or prepare themselves in some way, and for some motorists that meant going to the gas station and topping off their tanks," said Geoff Sundstrom, spokesman for AAA, the automobile association. "But as awful as these [attacks] were, there was never any threat to oil and gas supplies." 
By late Wednesday, most AAA clubs around the country were "reporting prices are stable and stations are open and things are functioning fairly normally," Sundstrom said. AAA expects prices nationwide to rise only a few cents from the current average of about $1.53 a gallon for self-serve regular, he said. 
Wholesale prices have risen between 8 cents and 20 cents around the country since the attacks, resulting in moderate retail increases, said Mary Welge, a senior editor with Oil Price Information Service, a New Jersey company that tracks gasoline prices. 
Many of the big price hikes spotted Tuesday--largely in the Midwest and South, including $5 a gallon at a Texaco station in Oklahoma City--have since been rolled back, she said. That dealer, who raised his price because of shortage worries, was so chagrined about the resulting publicity that he is issuing refunds, Welge said. 
More big refiners said Wednesday that they had frozen wholesale prices to dealers, joining BP, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp., which had fixed their prices to dealers a day earlier. 
Several attorneys general threatened to prosecute any gasoline retailers that were believed to be profiteering during this unsettled time. 
Abraham said during a news conference that summer antipollution requirements for Midwest gasoline will be lifted three days early to ease any supply bottlenecks. He said consumers should report price gougers to his agency and other authorities. 
An Energy Department investigation found "there's no basis for those kinds of charges," said Abraham, who allowed that the agency has no enforcement powers over gasoline station prices. "But I may call them on the phone if I don't think they are acting properly," he said. 
Oil prices also eased Wednesday. Although the New York Mercantile Exchange remained closed, oil was traded on the International Petroleum Exchange in London and in private exchanges operated by Enron Corp., Dynegy Inc. and El Paso Corp. that reopened for part of Wednesday. 
The October contract for Brent crude oil, an international benchmark, slipped $1.04 on Wednesday to close at $28.02 a barrel, after spurting $1.61 a barrel higher Tuesday on concerns about Middle East supplies. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries had vowed Tuesday to pump more oil if necessary, and that helped ease supply worries. 
Spot trading was conducted for about 90 minutes in West Texas intermediate crude oil, the U.S. benchmark, and prices were stable near $28.60 a barrel. The physical crude oil market closely tracks the Nymex futures market, where West Texas crude closed Monday at $27.63 a barrel. 
"The market was very rational and stable," Enron spokesman Mark Palmer said. The Houston company decided to trade oil Wednesday to provide liquidity to the market because oil is not being unloaded from tankers in Los Angeles, New Orleans and New York, he said. 
Nymex officials had not decided when the exchange will reopen but will do so "as soon as it is safely possible," spokeswoman Nachamah Jacobovits said. 
Bloomberg News was used in compiling this report.

PHOTO: The terrorist attacks sent worried motorists to the pumps Tuesday, but officials say gas and oil supplies were never threatened.; ; PHOTOGRAPHER: Associated Press 
Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 	

Houston Energy Companies Resume Some Trading; Prices Remain Stable
Michael Davis

09/13/2001
KRTBN Knight-Ridder Tribune Business News: Houston Chronicle - Texas
Copyright (C) 2001 KRTBN Knight Ridder Tribune Business News; Source: World Reporter (TM)

Houston energy companies moved to return to normal Wednesday, with limited trading showing stable fuel prices. 
While the New York Mercantile Exchange remained closed, companies resumed trading oil, natural gas and power via telephone and on their private online services.
Gasoline prices on the spot market Wednesday were down across the board. Refiners pledged to try to hold gasoline prices steady. They called on independent retailers to not make drastic price increases, but added they had no control over them. 
Reports of isolated price gouging at gasoline stations began surfacing late Tuesday in the wake of Tuesday's terrorist attacks, which caused oil prices to spike up in early trading Tuesday. 
The U.S. Department of Energy said Wednesday it had investigated gasoline price gouging allegations and had found there was no supply disruption to justify prices as high as $5 per gallon. 
The AAA said it had found no evidence of widespread extreme gas price increases or long lines. 
"The terrible events of (Tuesday) had nothing to do with oil or gasoline supplies and for this reason, panic buying or pricing would be absolutely irresponsible," said Robert Darbelnet, AAA president. 
U.S. markets were closed again Wednesday, but oil prices were lower on the London market. Brent crude oil for October delivery fell $1.04, or 3.6 percent, to $28.02 a barrel in London. 
The New York Mercantile Exchange's closure did not prevent Houston energy companies from resuming trading oil, natural gas and power, among other commodities. 
The New York Mercantile Exchange, near the World Trade Center, was evacuated Tuesday, stopping trading. As of late Wednesday, there was no decision about when the Nymex exchange would reopen. 
"Given the extent of the personal tragedy, no one would be surprised if all Nymex trading remained closed for the rest of the week," Lawrence Eagles, head of commodities research for GNI Ltd., said in an interview with Bloomberg News. 
Enron Corp. resumed trading by phone and online. 
"We were aiming for stability," Enron spokesman Mark Palmer said. "The markets were very orderly. Power prices actually went down, and gas was only up slightly, and there is a depression in the Gulf." 
Enron plans to be open for the full day today, he said. 
"We are going to take a look and assess things, but plans are to be open all day," Palmer said. 
Dynegy also resumed trading through noon Wednesday. 
"The physical business is operational, but obviously the financial business has been impacted due to the Nymex closure," said Steve Stengel, Dynegy spokesman. "We feel this is a short-term impact, and we expect things to return to normal in the not-too-distant future." 
Reliant Energy also resumed trading for the full day, said company spokeswoman Sandy Fruhman. 
"It was our experience that activity was very light," Fruhman said. 
Mel Scott, spokesman for El Paso Corp., said the company had resumed normal trading and would do a complete day of transactions on Wednesday. 
Equilon Enterprises and Motiva Enterprises, Houston-based refining joint ventures between Shell Oil Co. and Texaco, said they will "help maintain calm in the marketplace with a pledge to hold gasoline and diesel fuel prices steady for the next couple of days." 
The companies said the nation's overall inventory of fuel is adequate. 
"We encourage consumers to buy gasoline as they normally would to minimize sharp swings in gasoline demand and availability. This hold will apply to the prices we charge at Shell and Texaco stations that we own and operate, as well as the retail and wholesale prices we charge our independent dealers and wholesalers throughout the U.S.," the companies said. 
"We encourage our thousands of independent dealers and wholesalers to exercise restraint in their pricing decisions. We will continue to assess our position as new developments unfold." 
Exxon Mobil issued a statement saying it has adequate gasoline supplies. 
"In stations we own and operate, our prices have not increased since yesterday's events," the company said. "To reiterate, we have not taken any pricing action with Exxon- and Mobil-branded customers as a result of this tragedy. We cannot control what independent dealers or distributors do but are encouraging them to act responsibly." 
Ultramar Diamond Shamrock issued a statement saying it did not increase gasoline prices in response to the terrorist attacks. 
"We are sensitive to this national tragedy, and at our 1,500 company-owned retail stores, we did not increase prices in response to this incident," said Steve Motz, senior vice president of marketing at Ultramar Diamond Shamrock. 
The company also supplies fuel to independent business owners whose stores are branded Diamond Shamrock, Beacon, Ultramar or Total. Those independents make their own pricing decisions, the company said.

Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 	

LME Trading In Asia Normalizing,But Uncertainties Remain
By Chanyaporn Chanjaroen and Wong Chia Peck
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

09/13/2001
Dow Jones International News
(Copyright (c) 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)

SINGAPORE -(Dow Jones)- Trading houses in Asia have resumed market-making activity in Asia, but lingering uncertainties on the global economic direction has kept base metals trading subdued, London Metal Exchange traders in Asia said Thursday. 
"We resumed normal activity, but it's still dead quiet," a senior LME trader in Tokyo said, noting while there was more activity in interbank dealing, clients' inquiries remain few and far between.
Wednesday, traders in Asia avoided making markets, gripped with uncertainties after three aircraft crashed into the World Trade Center towers in New York and the Pentagon near Washington, sending shockwaves across the globe. 
Thursday in Asia trade, quotes on the benchmark LME three-month base metals futures contracts came from trading houses affiliated with Enron Corp. (ENE) and Sydney-based Macquarie Bank Ltd. (A.MCQ). 
Bid-offer spreads were around the usual $5 a metric ton, or below. 
Wednesday's spreads were around $8-$10/ton indicating trading houses' reluctance in making markets. 
A Sydney-based trader, however, said with narrower spreads and more market-makers, trading in the Asian hours is now "two-thirds back to normal." 
An LME trader in Hong Kong noted his trading house remained reluctant in making markets, quoting wide spreads. 
LME Prices May Fall Further; Liquidity Thin 

Liquidity remains thin with the U.S. markets closed. 
Another Sydney-based trader cautioned that market conditions are still uncertain with the absence of U.S. participants. 
"It's a long way from being back to normal, we've just had a massive world event" in the U.S., he said. 
Concerns of economic repercussions on the U.S. and countries depending on the U.S. in the aftermath of Tuesday's terrorist attacks are likely to continue dragging LME prices down once London trade starts Thursday, LME traders in Asia said. 
"Big funds holding large shorts didn't cover positions (Wednesday). Obviously they expect further price declines" before covering their shorts, the Tokyo-based senior trader said. 
Other traders agreed that funds' large short positions would play a major factor in temporarily reversing the current price downward trend. 
For this week, they expect more price declines. Three-month aluminum's next stop is $1,350/ton, after temporarily breaching key support of $1,370/ton in London Wednesday. 
Three-month copper is likely to test next support at $1,420/ton this week. The contract is now hovering at key support of $1,440/ton after falling through the level for a short period in London Wednesday. 
"No one can really say right now what's next," an LME trader in Sydney said, but admitted there's nothing positive to support LME market this week. 
US Retaliatory Efforts Eyed 

The lack of follow-through buying from Tuesday's knee-jerk reactions which lifted base metals prices isn't good news for bullish players, he continued. 
The market now awaits to see if there is any retaliatory action from the U.S. 
"If they pinpoint the Middle East and bomb it, gold and oil prices will spike and base metals will follow," he said. 
Separately, trading positions on base metals and gold players such as investment banks Credit Suisse First Boston Corp. (Z.CSF) and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter (MWD) are believed to be unaffected by Tuesday's terrorist attacks. 
A CSFB spokesman said the company is operating normally while a person familiar with Morgan Stanley said the bulk of the firm's trading operations weren't located in its World Trade Center office. 
-By Chanyaporn Chanjaroen, Dow Jones Newswires; 65-415-4082; Chanyaporn.Chanjaroen@dowjones.com

Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 	

INDIA PRESS: Lenders Against Buying Dabhol Foreign Equity

09/13/2001
Dow Jones International News
(Copyright (c) 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)

NEW DELHI -(Dow Jones)- Indian lenders to the Dabhol Power Co., U.S.-based Enron Corp.'s (ENE) local unit, are against buying the DPC's foreign equity, reports the Business Standard. 
The newspaper report, quoting an unnamed source, says the Indian lenders have asked prospective buyers to negotiate directly with Enron for any possible deal. The lenders will only play the role of facilitators in the process, the report says.
As reported, Enron has threatened to pull out of the 2,184 megawatt Dabhol Power Co. located in the western Indian state of Maharashtra and sell its controlling 65% stake in DPC at cost following differences with its sole buyer the Maharashtra State Electricity Board. The MSEB holds a 15% stake in DPC. 
At $2.9 billion, DPC is the single largest foreign investment in India to date. 

Web site: www.business-standard.com 

-By Himendra Kumar; Dow Jones Newswires; 91-11-461-9427; himendra.kumar@dowjones.com

Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 	

COMPANIES & FINANCE UK - Alkane on target to open 100 sites.
By DAVID BLACKWELL.

09/13/2001
Financial Times
(c) 2001 Financial Times Limited . All Rights Reserved

Alkane Energy, the methane gas producer that floatedin December, yesterday said it was on target to grow from three to more than 100 production sites on abandoned coal mines across the UK over the next five years. 
The company, which has #24m of cash on the balance sheet following the flotation, also plans to apply for further UK onshore licences in the next round next month.
David Cross, chief executive, said the cash would cover the opening programme for the next two years: "The sites are quickly cash-generative, and that will help us move into years three and four, by which time we shall have solid assets quite capable of taking debt on board." 
The cash generated interest receivable of #693,000 in the six months to June 30, keeping the company out of the red at the pre-tax level. But operating losses were #363,000 after a leak at one of its Nottinghamshire sites hit production. Sales fell from #707,280 to #552,830 in first-half 2000, when operating profits were #136,000. 
Alkane, which raised #30m through its flotation at 90p a share, is building six more plants to extract methane from abandoned coal mines, and is at the detailed development stage on a further 20. It has signed Enron, the US energy group, which is interested in 10 sites, and Scottish & Southern, which is interested in five. 
Mr Cross said its strategy was to get electricity generating companies to build plant at its sites and agree to take the methane, which is an environmental pollutant. The company is selling the gas at 12p a therm, compared with other natural gas prices of about 25p a therm on delivery. 
Earnings were 0.37p (0.93p loss) and there is no dividend. The shares closed down 3p yesterday at 100 1/2p. 
(c) Copyright Financial Times Ltd. All rights reserved. 
http://www.ft.com.

Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 	


Calif Senate Committee To Discuss Enron Sanctions Thu

09/12/2001
Dow Jones Energy Service
(Copyright (c) 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)

LOS ANGELES -(Dow Jones)- California's Senate Rules Committee Thursday will discuss sanctions against Enron Corp. (ENE) for its contempt cite by the Senate Select Committee to Investigate Price Manipulation, a spokeswoman for the committee chair said. 
The committee, which is examining manipulation of the state's electricity market, has cited Enron and Reliant Energy (REI) with contempt for refusing to provide financial documents.
"The Rules Committee will make a recommendation on sanctions to the Senate floor, and the floor should then vote on the sanctions by Friday," said a spokeswoman for Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Santa Ana. 
The legislature is scheduled to adjourn Friday. 
Last week, a Sacramento Superior Court judge granted Enron a protective order of some financial documents that were subpoenaed by the committee. An Enron spokesman said then that the company would hand over all requested documents as soon as the two parties had worked out a protective order and the judge agreed to it. 
Enron said Wednesday that Dunn's committee "has refused to meet with Enron to discuss terms" of the protective order, an accusation Dunn's spokeswoman denied. 
-By Jessica Berthold, Dow Jones Newswires; 323-658-3872; jessica.berthold@dowjones.com -0- 13/09/01 01-13G

Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 	

DPUC denies state money for Enron fuel cell project

09/12/2001
Associated Press Newswires
Copyright 2001. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. (AP) - The Department of Public Utility Control Wednesday issued a preliminary denial of a plan to use ratepayers' conservation dollars for a fuel cell project. 
The DPUC said the proposal by Enron North America Corp. and the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority was not an appropriate use of $124 million of ratepayers' money over five years.
"At present, neither the cost nor the success of this project is certain," the DPUC said. "It would put the risk on ratepayers without reasonable guarantees from either the manufacturer or the project developer." 
The DPUC also said it was inappropriate to use money intended to conserve electricity for a project that would generate more electricity. 
The companies wanted to work with FuelCell Energy of Danbury to develop a fuel cell farm to generate 26 megawatts a year - enough power to serve about 8,000 homes. 
Critics of the plan noted that Enron, which had $101 billion in revenues last year, bought $5 million worth of stock in FuelCell Energy in October. 
The DPUC said the project developers could apply for funds from another ratepayers' fund set up to develop renewable energy projects. 
Money for these funds come from small fees on electric bills from Connecticut Light & Power and United Illuminating. 
These utilities will split about $85 million to help homeowners and businesses conserve electricity by using power-thrifty appliances, insulating and other means.

Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 	

U.S. Physical Gas Prices Up; Converge With Oct On OTC

09/12/2001
Dow Jones Energy Service
(Copyright (c) 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)

HOUSTON -(Dow Jones)- U.S. natural gas physical prices held in the $2.40s per million British thermal units as the market struggled with a lack of liquidity after Tuesday's apparent terrorist assault on New York City and the Pentagon, traders said. 
Cash prices converged with the New York Mercantile Exchange's October futures contract in over-the-counter trading after a bearishly large American Gas Association storage report showed 95 billion cubic feet of gas added to storage last week.
"It's a market that's very difficult for storage buyers," one trader lamented, as information about spreads between futures and cash prices was thin. 
Traders expect Enron Online to continue trading all day Thursday. The Nymex and ACCESS trading are expected to remain closed through Thursday at least. 
On Wednesday, traders only came into the market to level their positions and get out, according to one Gulf Coast trader. Managers were on hand to keep traders from pushing the market, a trader said. 
At the benchmark Henry Hub in south Louisiana, the delivery point for Nymex gas, prices rose 4 cents to 6 cents from Monday's margins to $2.41-$2.46/MMBtu. The OTC market on Tuesday just prior to the day's horrific events held around $2.418/MMBtu for October. 
First-of-month index for the Henry Hub is around $2.34/MMBtu. 
The Nymex October natural gas futures contract rose about 3.6 cents to settle at $2.43/MMBtu from Monday's $2.392/MMBtu settlement. The AGA report, expected to be large, was at the top of trader expectations. 
Deals at Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Station No. 65 were done at $2.42-$2.50/MMBtu, up 6 cents-8 cents. Index is at $2.21/MMBtu. 
At the Arizona-California Border, where gas from El Paso's pipeline begins delivery to Southern California, buyers paid $2.30-$2.40/MMBtu, up 29 cents-30 cents from Monday's closing range. Index is at $2.66/MMBtu. 
At PG&E Citygate, traders paid $2.24-$2.33/MMBtu, down 1 cent-2 cents. September first-of-month index is at $2.71/MMBtu. 
At the Katy hub in East Texas, prices were in a $2.36-$2.42/MMBtu range, up 6 cents-7 cents. First-of-month September index is $2.37/MMBtu. 
At Waha in West Texas, buyers paid $2.25-$2.32/MMBtu, up 8 cents-9 cents. Index is at $2.32/MMBtu, traders said. 
-By John Edmiston, Dow Jones Newswires; 713-547-9209; john.edmiston@dowjones.com

Copyright ? 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 	

Some U.S. Markets to Resume Trading After 2-Day Halt (Update5)
2001-09-12 19:26 (New York)

Some U.S. Markets to Resume Trading After 2-Day Halt (Update5)

     (Adds in fifth paragraph that officials will meet tomorrow on
whether trading can resume Friday. For a special report on the
terrorist attack and its aftermath, see {EXTRA <GO>}.)

     New York, Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. bonds will start
trading tomorrow after a two-day halt caused by the worst
terrorist attack in the country's history. Trading in U.S. stocks
will take at least one more day to resume.

     Bond firms will be open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. New York time
under a recommendation by the Bond Market Association, an industry
group, people familiar with the situation said. The decision
followed talks with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the
Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury, the people said.

     Stock markets may resume trading Friday and will open Monday,
New York Stock Exchange Chairman Richard Grasso said.

     The NYSE and Nasdaq Stock Market, where $90 billion of shares
trade on an average day, met with the SEC, brokerages and New York
City officials to decide whether to open. The Big Board and the
American Stock Exchange are in an area south of Manhattan's 14th
Street that Mayor Rudolph Giuliani closed to civilians.

     The SEC and the markets are ``doing everything to make it
possible'' for trading to resume, SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt said.
Exchange officials and Wall Street executives will meet again
tomorrow to determine if trading can resume Friday, Grasso said.

                          `Case by Case'

     The Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile
Exchange will open tomorrow, except in futures and options
contracts linked to stock indexes. The Chicago Board Options
Exchange will be closed tomorrow.

     Markets closed yesterday, as did many corporate offices,
after terrorists hijacked four commercial jets and destroyed both
of the World Trade Center's 110-story towers and a nearby 47-story
building. The NYSE and Nasdaq never opened yesterday.

     U.S. stocks and bonds didn't trade today in Europe. Euronext
NV, a combination of the Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam exchanges,
said it would resume U.S. stock trading once the Big Board opens.
Deutsche Boerse AG, owner of the Frankfurt exchange, said it would
wait until at least Friday.

     Treasury securities are poised to rise when bond trading
opens. ``Shorter-term securities -- up to five-year notes -- will
benefit the most,'' said Barry Evans, who oversees $10 billion at
John Hancock Funds in Boston.

     Share prices are likely to decline as they did in European,
Asian and Latin American markets following the attack, investors
said. ``Certainly stocks will trade down,'' said Robert Turner,
chief investment officer at Turner Investment Partners, which
manages $10 billion in Berwyn, Pennsylvania.

                           `On the Job'

     Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., based across the street from
the site of the World Trade Center, told some people to report to
offices in Jersey City, New Jersey. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. told
some to stay home.

     Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. told employees to come ``on
a case-by-case basis,'' said Judy Hitchen, a company spokeswoman.
Morgan Stanley had 3,500 people working at the Trade Center, and
Chairman Philip Purcell said the ``vast majority'' of them had
survived the attack.

     Disruptions weren't limited to financial companies. Midway
Airlines Corp., a Raleigh, North Carolina-based company operating
under bankruptcy protection, shut down and fired 1,700 workers.
Midway said it expected demand for air travel to plunge.

     Philip Morris Cos., the largest maker of cigarettes, closed
all offices in the New York metropolitan area today after keeping
its headquarters in the city open yesterday. General Mills Inc.,
the maker of cereals such as Cheerios, postponed the scheduled
release of fiscal first-quarter results.

                         Minute of Silence

     On the other hand, Oracle Corp. expects to release fiscal
first-quarter earnings tomorrow as planned. The third-largest
software company lost an employee on a hijacked plane, and others
were working in the Trade Center.

     ``We have to stay on the job,'' Chief Executive Larry Ellison
said. ``We cannot let these terrorists shut us down. Not the U.S.,
not Oracle.''

     The last time that U.S. stock trading was suspended for more
than two sessions occurred in March 1933, when President Franklin
Delano Roosevelt called for a nationwide bank holiday. The NYSE
halted trading for 10 days, according to its Web site. Trading
also stopped for more than four months after World War I erupted
in 1914, according to the exchange.

     European exchanges were open today, and some observed one
minute of silence at 8:45 a.m. New York time to commemorate the
attack's victims. The FT-SE 100 in London gained 2.9 percent, the
German DAX rose 1.4 percent and the CAC-40 in Paris added 1.3
percent. Each benchmark index lost at least 5 percent yesterday.

                         Some Resumptions

     On Wednesday, Asian stocks tumbled, especially shares of
companies most dependent on U.S. sales. Japan's Nikkei 225 stock
average fell 6.6 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 8.9
percent, and Korea's Kospi index plummeted a record 12 percent.

     Few U.S. Treasury bills, notes and bonds traded amid the
closings in the U.S. and Europe. By comparison, $292 billion in
securities change hands on an average day, according to the Bond
Market Association.

     Cantor Fitzgerald LP, which accounts for about a fourth of
U.S. government bond trading, had its headquarters in the World
Trade Center, which was destroyed in yesterday's attack.

     Trading of oil, natural gas and electricity resumed at Enron
Corp., the largest energy trader, and competitors such as Dynegy
Inc. and El Paso Corp. Internet-based markets were running, and
traders were doing business by telephone as usual, companies'
executives said.

     The New York Mercantile Exchange, where oil and natural-gas
futures change hands, canceled electronic trading today and said
it won't open its trading floor, near the Trade Center.



FuelCell Energy Says Connecticut Report Rejects Power Project
2001-09-12 19:00 (New York)

FuelCell Energy Says Connecticut Report Rejects Power Project

     Danbury, Connecticut, Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) -- FuelCell Energy
Inc. said the Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control
issued a draft decision rejecting the company's proposal to build
a $124 million fuel-cell power plant with Enron Corp. and a state
agency.

     The draft said some of the money for the project would have
come from a state fund aimed at reducing electricity demand, not
creating new electricity plants, said Bill Baker of Baker
Communications Group, which represents FuelCell. The fund is
administered by the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority.

     The FuelCell plant would have supplied enough energy for
about 26,000 U.S. homes.

     FuelCell, based in Danbury, Connecticut, had said approval of
the plan would spur other prospective projects.

     ``This wasn't part of our business plan,'' Baker said.  ``It
would have been nice, but there are other projects and lots of
interest in fuel cells.''

     Shares of FuelCell rose 25 cents to $12.49 on Monday. Houston-
based Enron, the largest energy trader, rose $1.19 to $32.76.
Stock trading has been halted since yesterday's terrorist attacks
in New York City and Washington.