marcosolo, 23. Januar 2004 um 20:20:21 MEZ

UBS Hosts Natural Gas & Electric Utilities Conference

UBS LOGO UBS logo. (PRNewsFoto)[AG] STAMFORD, CT USA 07/16/2003

   

WHAT: The 2004 UBS Natural Gas & Electric Utilities Conference , themed "In Search of Relative Value," will feature formal presentations by the senior management of 18 well-known companies in the sector. In addition, the conference will include two keynote luncheon presentations. Charif Souki, Chairman and CEO of Cheniere Energy [NYSE: LNG], will speak on North American LNG opportunities/risks; and FERC Commissioner Joseph Kelliher will discuss the biggest issues on the agency's high-profile agenda.

            Below is a final list of presenting companies:

            AES Corporation
            American Electric Power
            Cheniere Energy
            Cinergy Corp.
            CMS Energy
            Constellation Energy
            Dominion Resources
            DTE Energy
            Dynegy
            Entergy Corporation
            Exelon Corp.
            KeySpan Corporation
            Kinder Morgan
            Questar Corp.
            Peabody Energy
            Southern Company
            TransCanada
            Williams

WHY: Fueled by easing liquidity concerns, the low interest rate environment, favorable dividend tax legislation and the overall rebound in equities markets, U.S. natural gas & electric utility share prices rose sharply throughout 2003 and are now trading near historically high valuations. UBS has assembled a wide swath of players in the arena to determine the key drivers of growth going forward and where there is further risk-adjusted upside (or downside) potential. Beyond valuation, key fundamental issues of focus will include: wholesale natural gas/coal/power prices, spark spreads, generation dispatch trends, balance sheet evolution, rate case cycles, the future of international investments, environmental issues, the need for new transmission, and critical components of -- and prospects for -- the energy bill. The conference promises to be an intense two days with ample room for Q&A and lively debate.

 WHEN:      Wednesday, February 11 and Thursday, February 12

 WHERE:     The Grand Hyatt
                    New York City

 WEBCAST:   Live audio transmissions of company presentations will be accessible via the UBS Investment Bank website at http://www.ibb.ubs.com when the conference opens. Replays will be                available starting approximately three hours after the initial presentation and will remain accessible for four weeks.

 REGISTER:  Members of the media may register for the conference by contacting William Dentzer at (212) 713-8515 or  william.dentzer@ubs.com.

 

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marcosolo, 18. Januar 2004 um 00:27:22 MEZ

energy crisis - What is happening today is just the beginning.

1-16-04, 2000 hrs (FTW) - For almost two years FTW has been following an imminent natural gas crisis connected to Peak Oil. Last summer at a conference in Mexico, I predicted the August 14th blackout more than a month before it happened. In previous stories and in one which we will publish for our subscribers in a few days, we have reported that going into this winter, the US had just barely met the absolute minimum storage requirements of three trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas which might have been enough if the weather stayed mild. We warned repeatedly that seriously cold weather might trigger gas shortages and events such as those reported by CNN today.

Here are some quotes from the CNN story which is reposted in its entirety below:

"Temperatures remained below zero Friday morning across New England after plunging to near-record lows, straining power grids and bringing life to a near standstill in some places.  Officials asked residents to conserve energy voluntarily or face rolling blackouts."

"?A spokeswoman for ISO New England Inc., the company responsible for maintaining the region's power grid, said it would launch rolling blackouts only 'under extreme circumstances'?"

"The weather has created high demand for electricity, and as a result some power generating plants ran out of natural gas Thursday and increased the burden on other plants, according to ISO New England."

What our readers must understand is that this crisis is not one that can be solved by more drilling. A reading of FTW's previous extensive reporting on Peak Oil and Gas reveals that there are no more significant gas fields left and that no amount of drilling for oil and gas is going to prevent a darker and colder future. Any appreciable supplies of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from overseas are decades of construction and billions of dollars of investment away and even that is at best only a short-term supply which will be taken away from others who will have to do without.

What is happening today is just the beginning.

For all of the Pollyanna advocates of alternative energy who assure us that there is nothing to worry about, that the world, and especially the United States can go on consuming at current levels and that the fatally flawed fallacy of a hydrogen economy will somehow solve our problems with regard to oil and gas, I suggest that they go and live in the northeast today and see how warm their windmills, solar panels, biomass and hydrogen myths keep them. Where is the infrastructure to employ even the pitiful solutions that solar, wind and biomass might provide? Mother Earth is laughing at Dick Cheney's arrogant position that "the American way of life is not negotiable".

Now is the time when the presidential candidates and every leader in the world must come to acknowledge Peak Oil and tell the world the truth. It is here. It is now. And sadly, as we have consistently said since 9/11, people are dying. Whether from hypothermia and frostbite, or from bombs and "terror" attacks, the cause is the same: the world is running out of hydrocarbon energy.

FTW would like to express its deepest gratitude to our Energy Editor Dale Allen Pfeiffer for his dedicated and breathtakingly accurate work on this subject. Dale, the good news is that you were right. And the bad news is that you were right.

Mike Ruppert

'Extremely dangerous' cold grips Northeast

Friday, January 16, 2004 Posted: 1:23 AM EST (0623 GMT)

BOSTON, Massachusetts (CNN) -- The northeastern United States faced more bitter cold and high winds Thursday, with forecasters warning of "extremely dangerous" wind chills as low as 45 degrees below zero in eastern Massachusetts.

In Vermont , Gov. James Douglas appeared live on the state's largest television network to urge New England residents to conserve energy and help prevent rolling blackouts, which may be needed in an extreme circumstance.

Douglas said ISO New England, the company responsible for maintaining the region's power grid, is preparing to shut off power to some customers on Friday, if necessary, in order to keep the grid working.

The weather has created high demand for electricity and as a result some power generating plants ran out of natural gas Thursday and increased the burden on other plants, according to ISO New England.

Steve Costello, a spokesman for the Central Vermont Public Service Corp., said if the rolling blackouts are needed it would be a first for the region.

"We've never had to resort to that to maintain the stability of the system," Costello said. "But there has been very, very high demand in New England today."

Galen Crader, CNN weather forecaster, predicts the sub-freezing temperatures will remain through the middle of next week. Sub-zero temperatures, however, could begin to fade away as early as Friday afternoon.

"These values can produce frostbite in just 10 or 15 minutes," a National Weather Service advisory said. "If you don't have to travel or be outside late tonight or early tomorrow, then stay indoors."

In Maine , where wind chills could dip to 50 below zero Friday morning, Gov. John Baldacci declared a state of emergency in hopes of convincing federal highway regulators to allow longer driving hours for truckers carrying fuel oil.

"These conditions threaten public health and safety and endanger public property if fuel oil cannot be delivered to Maine homes and businesses," Baldacci's declaration said.

About 20 coffee-drinkers were crammed into a coffee shop in Portland , Maine , on Thursday morning, according to server Jamie Deering. "It's really cold, I mean, it's going down to 15 below at night," Deering said. "I didn't even take my trash out last night and my car is frozen."

In Boston the temperature reached a high of negative 2 degrees Thursday. The city's largest homeless shelter, which provides 700 beds, has been packed.

But one woman on a Boston street said area residents know how to deal with that type of weather:

"Dress in layers, keep moving and just try to have that old, good New England character," she said.

Business was off Thursday at a Waffle House restaurant in Tewkesbury , Massachusetts , said cook Sandra Starke. "It's awful, very cold," she said. "We just got a dusting [of snow] but it's so cold nobody wants to come out."

New Hampshire's Mount Washington Observatory, which boasts of having "The world's worst weather," recorded temperatures of 28 degrees below zero Fahrenheit on Thursday morning with a wind chill of 71 degrees below zero.

"It's actually very wonderful to be up here, to just be able to experience the weather extremes here that Mother Nature throws at you," said meteorologist Tim Markle from a weather station on the mountain. "A lot of people don't like the cold, but we're loving it up here."

-- CNN's Adaora Udoji, Laura Bernardini and CNN.com writer Thom Patterson contributed to this report.

 

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marcosolo, 15. Januar 2004 um 20:23:17 MEZ

US Opens New Front in War on Terror by Beefing Up Border Controls in Sahara

New FTW story -- Britain's "The Guardian" is reporting that the US has just opened a new front in the war on terror. Guess where? West Africa, as we have been predicting for 18 months. Not much coverage in the US but a sure sign that where oil is, the US is heading

By Rory Carroll and Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian UK

Wednesday 14 January 2004

The US is sending troops and defence contractors to the Sahara desert of west Africa to open what it calls a new front in the war on terror.

A small vanguard force arrived this week in Mauritania to pave the way for A$100m (£54m) plan to bolster the security forces and border controls of Mauritania, Mali, Chad and Niger.

The US Pan-Sahel Initiative, as it is named, will provide 60 days of training to military units, including tips on desert navigation and infantry tactics, and furnish equipment such as Toyota Land Cruisers, radios and uniforms.

The reinforcement of America's defences in a remote, poorly patrolled region came on a day when US police forces gained important powers in the homeland to conduct searches.

In a 6-3 ruling, the supreme court yesterday reversed a lower court decision in Illinois not to allow police to set up roadblocks to collect information from motorists. The supreme court said it did not represent an unreasonable intrusion on privacy. The three dissenting judges said the ruling exposed motorists to police interference.

West Africa is not known as a hotbed of support for Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network but Washington is taking no chances in Aregion with strong Arab and Muslim ties.

"A team of military experts has been here since Saturday to teach, train and reinforce the capacities of the Mauritanian army charged with frontier surveillance against cross-border terrorism," Pamela Bridgewater, A US deputy undersecretary of state for African affairs, told reporters in the capital, Nouakchott.

Since dropping support in the mid-90s for Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime, the government of Mauritania has angered some local Islamic groups by forging links with Washington. At least one such group was allegedly behind a failed coup last year but some sceptics claim the government exaggerated the threat.

Mali, Chad and Niger also have porous borders, sizeable Muslim populations and disgruntled opposition groups but al-Qaida has so far concentrated its African operations in the east: blowing up US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and a rocket and car bomb attack against Israeli targets in the Kenyan resort of MombasAlast year.

Armed groups roving the desert have abducted western tourists and caused the Paris-Dakar rally to be rerouted, but whether they are opportunistic bandits or Islamist guerrillas is not clear.

Ms Bridgewater said there had been threats against US interests in Mauritania's neighbour Senegal , the scene of extraordinary security measures during President George Bush's visit last year.

"Yes, we have heard. But this question is very sensitive, and I don't want to respond to this question," she said.

West Africa is comprised largely of former French colonies and Paris might be expected to be wary. The French defence minister, Michele Alliot-Marie, is to visit Washington this week to meet Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, and Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser.

 

 

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