California: State weighing suit against El Paso

The San Francisco Chronicle ^ | Friday, November 8, 2002 | Bernadette Tansey, Chronicle Staff Writer

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

State Attorney General Bill Lockyer said his office has strong evidence to support an antitrust action against El Paso Corp. for fueling the state's energy crisis by strangling the flow of natural gas into California.

Revealing that his prosecutors have been investigating the Houston pipeline company for two years, Lockyer also told The Chronicle that he has been conducting settlement talks with El Paso for a number of weeks.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

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[Phantom Lord]

But I thought Enron was behind all of Californias energy problems. Guess that didnt pan out so well and now they have to try and pin it on another company.

[snopercod]

El Paso spokesman Mel Scott said he could not comment on Lockyer's report that settlement negotiations are under way because he could find no one at the company who was aware of any talks.

Maybe because there never were any talks?

It's just too bad that the voters don't hold politicians to the same standards as CEOs. You know, make them sign a certification that what they say is true, then jail them if they it turns out otherwise, or if their budgets are full of smoke and mirrors.

[Dog Gone]

I guarantee that El Paso is not in settlement talks with Lockjaw. They are gearing up for a fight to overturn the FERC judge's ruling, which I think they will win.

[TheBattman]

Just like a bunch of liberals - blame someone else, cause they think of themselves as the "victims". And those idiots RE-ELECTED the chief that has brought them their latest woes....go figure.

[John O]

I think it's timie for El Paso to refuse to do any business in Ca. Cut them off cold and see what they do.

As a Texas based business they should still have the option to do business with who they please, shouldn't they?

God Save America (Please)

[snopercod]

I think it's timie for El Paso to refuse to do any business in Ca.

Their natural gas pipelines are analagous to interstate highways. IOW, they are open to all suppliers and consumers. El Paso can't cut them off.

But the "era of limits" crowd that has run California since the 70s is doing a pretty good job of cutting theirownselves off. They have built no new intrastate pipelines in the last 30 years or so. As a consequence, the interstate pipelines can deliver more gas to the border of California than California can accept.

Read this thread for more details on this (caution, it's like drinking from a firehose) El Paso cranks up public relations machine From the last post in the thread:

In California, there is an imbalance between the ability of the interstate gas pipeline system to deliver gas to the California border and the in-State pipeline capacity to receive gas at the border. This imbalance means the ability of take-away capacity at the State border constrains the amount of gas that can be delivered into California by interstate pipeline companies. The California Energy Commission estimates that at least 200 MMcf/d less gas can be picked up at the State border than can be delivered to the State. EIA estimates the total imbalance at about 590 MMcf/d

(EIA is the Dept. of Energy Information Agency)

[snopercod]

BTW, I sold my EP stock early this AM, based upon their lousy 3rd quarter earnings statement, their lousy chart, and downgrades by about 90% of the analysts that follow the stock (went from "strong buy" to "hold", just like that).

I made a small profit, and fully intend to buy it back within the month, I hope. I'm very trigger happy in this market...

[Dog Gone]

Even an undervalued stock can get hammered by adverse media coverage. EP stock is probably a good long-term hold.

That doesn't mean, though, that you couldn't buy it cheaper next month.

[Looking for Diogenes]

Ep stock will undoubtedly move one way or the other when the FERC decision is announced in December.