Williams Companies Inc. (WMB) has filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to expand its Transco natural gas pipeline to serve markets in the southeastern United States.  On approval from FERC, Williams expects the Mobile Bay South II Expansion project to provide services by spring 2011.   Through the expansion project, Williams expects to add 380,000 dekatherms of southbound, year-round firm transportation capacity on the Mobile Bay Lateral from Transco's mainline at Station 85 near Butler, Alabama, to its interconnect with Gulfstream Natural Gas System in Coden, Alabama.   Williams estimates that the project will require a compression addition of 8,180 horsepower at Transco compressor station 85 and facility modifications at Station 83. It expects the project facilities to cost approximately $36 million.   Recently, the company’s Mobile Bay natural gas processing plant returned to service, processing between 100 million and 200 million cubic feet ...

HOLTWOOD, Pa. - November 3, 2009 - Approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission of a request by PPL Holtwood, LLC, is a significant milestone in the plan to increase generation of clean, renewable energy and improve migratory fish passage

Dominion Resources, Inc. (D) has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to start pre-filing process for its Appalachian Gateway Project. The proposed project will transport natural gas produced in West Virginia and southwest Pennsylvania to storage fields and pipelines in Pennsylvania. The Appalachian Gateway project will cost around $600 million. Dominion expects to start construction work in 2011 and commence commercial operation in 2012. The project is fully subscribed by Marcellus Shale and other Appalachian natural gas producers. The total firm transportation delivery is estimated to be nearly 484,260 dekatherms of natural gas per day.  Dominion will build four new natural gas compressor stations and upgrade two existing compressor stations, which will add about 17,000 horsepower of compression capacity. Around 110 miles of new pipeline will be constructed under the project, which will start at West Virginia and end at Dominion and Spectra's jointly owned ...

Last week, Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. (ETP) informed that it has entered into a settlement with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which had accused the natural gas and propane gas distributor of unfair trading activities during Hurricane Rita in 2005. However, the partnership did not disclose the terms of the agreement as it is still subject to approval by the federal agency. The FERC had earlier alleged that Energy Transfer employed a complicated scheme to artificially suppress the price of physical natural gas at the Houston Ship Channel in September and November 2005, and then report the manipulated prices to a widely circulated trade magazine. The FERC is claiming $69.9 million in disgorgement of profits, as well as interest, and $82 million in civil penalties associated with these market manipulation claims. At the time, Energy Transfer denied any wrongdoing. We welcome the news of ...

DrStockPick.com Stock Report!

Thursday August 20, 2009

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A 2006 proposal to proceed with a share exchange, which would have changed the company’s organization to a holding company structure, has been abandoned by Avista Corp.’s (NYSE: AVA) board of directors. The proposal had received approval from the company’s shareholders and conditioned approvals from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, as well as the Washington and Idaho state utility commissions. The company was unable, however, to reach agreement on acceptable terms and conditions with interested parties in proceedings before the Public Utility Commission of Oregon.

The Board of Directors of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina, Inc. (Nasdaq: PEBK) declared a cash dividend for

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Diversified utility Duke Energy (DUK), the 3rd largest electric utility in the U.S., announced a three-year partnership with Cisco Systems (CSCO), the world's largest network communications company, to co-develop an advanced modern electric "smart grid."

What is a Smart-Grid?

"Smart-grids" deliver electricity from suppliers to consumers using digital technology to save energy, reduce costs and increase reliability. Many global governments are promoting such a modernized electricity network as a means of increasing energy independence and reducing global warming issues.

An electricity grid is not a single entity but an aggregate of multiple networks and multiple power generation companies with multiple operators employing varying levels of communication and coordination, most of which are manually controlled.

Smart grids increase the connectivity, automation and coordination between suppliers, consumers and networks, which perform either long distance transmission or local

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Exxon Throws Weight Behind Alaska PipelineExxon (XOM) has finally decided to throw its weight behind the TransCanada Corp. (TRP)-sponsored Alaska Pipeline project that will bring stranded Alaskan natural gas to consuming markets in the U.S. Lower 48. TransCanada's 1,700 mile, 48-inch diameter pipeline has the support of the Alaskan and Canadian governments. The Alaska government passed legislation last year that would subsidize the initial project costs by up to $500 million.While details of the deal between the two companies were not released, it is expected that TRP will remain the project's operator. This pipeline, expected to cost approximately $26 billion to build, would be the largest civil engineering project in North America. The pipeline would stretch from the North Slope of Alaska through Yukon and British Columbia to the Alberta border, where it would be linked to existing infrastructure reaching the U.S. market....

Automakers & PHEVs: Between “Barack” and a Hard Place

by David Fessler, Advisory Panelist

During the last few years of the Bush administration, the EPA was directed to ignore California’s pleas to grant it a waiver of the Clean Air Act.

Why? The grant would effectively have permitted California to enforce stricter emission rules its legislature had enacted a number of years before.

The EPA dragged its feet because as many as 16 other states were considering legislation modeled after California’s - with one notable difference: emission rules even more stringent than California’s.

The automakers lobbied Bush administration officials to oppose California’s request. And it’s not hard to understand why: They’re struggling just to stay in business.

But now, automakers are between Barack and a hard place, as the President told the EPA to “reconsider” its Bush-era denial. If it does, car manufacturers could find themselves having to make cars that get

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We are reiterating our Buy recommendation, earnings estimates and price objective for Williams Companies, Inc. (WMB) shares. The company remains well positioned to capitalize on attractive growth opportunities in its low-risk exploration and production (E&P) business, besides enjoying strong leverage to continued strength in natural gas liquids margins in its Midstream business.

We believe that Williams Rockies development drilling program focused on the Piceance Basin is the key to its upstream growth going forward. Additionally, the company raised its earnings outlook for the rest of 2008 and 2009, citing production growth. A recently completed $1 billion share repurchase program, a 10% dividend increase, and creation of a pipeline MLP are some of the other positives in the Williams story.

We believe that the company has moved beyond its restructuring phase and is now clearly ready to focus on growth opportunities. We expect double-digit volume gains in 2008, after production growth

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We maintain a market-neutral Hold recommendation on PG&E Corporation (PCG) common stock with a six-month target price of $41.25. Price appreciation to our near-term valuation target, coupled with a quarterly cash dividend of $0.39 per share, which we deem secure and sustainable, given reasonable projected payouts and the accretive effect of share repurchases, represents annualized total return potential of 12.9%.

Going forward, positive investment factors, including favorable decisions from California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) including a CPUC authorized 11.35% return-on-equity (ROE) until 2010, long-term supply agreements, diversification into alternative power sources and infrastructure improvement programs such as the Cornerstone, Smart Meter and Tesla generating stations, will be partially offset by risks including rising natural gas prices, increased purchased power cost, higher pension costs, settlement of regulatory assets and an over-leveraged balance sheet.

The company has $13 billion of planned capital expenditures in the pipeline

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