Novedades de Petroleo y Algo mas

by Leslie Crawford and Mark Mulligan

The Italian electricity group confirmed late on Tuesday that it had bought the stake for €39 a share.

"This shareholding acquisition in Endesa…is part of Enel’s strategy aimed at strengthening the company’s position on the European electricity market," Enel said.

The offer is higher than the €38.75 a share Germany’s Eon is offering for 100 per cent of Endesa.

Endesa shares closed down 0.9 per cent, at €38.12, following reports of the Enel move. Enel needs the approval of Spain’s energy commission to buy more than 10 per cent.

The move, which is understood to have the blessing of Spain’s Socialist government, comes just three weeks before a critical meeting of Endesa shareholders, called to decide on whether to lift a 10 per cent cap on voting rights.

Enel, Acciona, a Spanish infrastructure and energy group which is Endesa’s largest shareholder with at least 21 per cent of the company, and Sepi, the Spanish state holding group, could frustrate a proposal to lift the cap on voting rights. The bylaws can only be changed if 50 per cent of the equity with voting rights approves.

Eon has made its offer contingent on the removal of voting restrictions. Even if the bylaws are changed, Eon’s offer is still conditional on receiving acceptances of at least 50 per cent of Endesa’s shares. The Spanish government has never disguised its hostility to the German takeover.

Joan Clos, industry minister, reiterated the sentiment on Tuesday, saying he favoured a "Spanish solution" to the takeover battle, which began in September 2005 with a bid, now withdrawn, by Gas Natural, a Spanish gas utility. "There will probably be a kind of pact," Mr Clos said. "I would say a Spanish solution had greater chances of success [than the German bid]."

The "Spanish solution" is understood to have been discussed by prime ministers Jose Luís Rodríguez Zapatero and Romano Prodi.

by Chris Lambie

U.S. sales of gas-electric hybrid vehicles rose 28 per cent from 2005 to 2006, but the rate of growth is starting to slow, according to a company that analyzes automotive industry data.

Consumers bought 254,545 hybrids last year as gasoline prices hit US$3 per gallon or more for much of the year, up from 199,148 in 2005, according to U.S.-wide auto registration data compiled by R.L. Polk & Co. and released on Monday.

The rate of growth was the second-slowest since 2000, due in large part to car buyers having more environmentally friendly options, plus expiration of some tax credits on Toyota hybrids, said Lonnie Miller, director of industry analysis for R.L. Polk.

Miller expects the growth to continue, though, because demand is still strong and three new hybrid models are in the works this year. Among those models is General Motors Corp.’s dual-mode hybrid, which uses two electric motors and a V-8 engine to get as much as 23 miles per gallon in a pickup truck or sport utility vehicle.

"If the traditional truck buyer can be wowed by the hybrid, that’s going to get a lot of people excited," Miller said.

Hybrids accounted for about 1.5 per cent of U.S. vehicle sales last year, with Toyota’s Prius leading the segment with 42.8 per cent of registrations, R.L. Polk said. A hybrid version of Toyota’s Highlander sport utility vehicle ranked second.

But last summer, Toyota Motor Corp. hit the legal production limit — 60,000 vehicles — for its hybrids to receive full U.S. federal tax credits. A 2005 federal energy bill provided up to $3,600 in tax credits to U.S. consumers who buy hybrids. But the tax credits for Toyota and Lexus hybrid vehicles were cut in half beginning in October. The $3,150 credit for the Prius, the largest hybrid tax credit available, shrank to $1,575 on Oct. 1.

Toyota officials said their U.S. hybrid sales in October dropped to the lowest levels since March, attributing the decline in demand in part to the reduced tax credits. Miller said Toyota resorted to sales incentives to sell the Prius, which is an indicator that the market might be cooling. But he still expects growth, perhaps to 300,000 vehicles in 2007.

Hybrids have the ability to switch between internal combustion engines and electric motors to power themselves, with batteries that recharge during driving. They deliver better gasoline mileage than conventional vehicles.

California led all states in hybrid sales with 67,533 last year with Los Angeles the top market at 30,989, according to R.L. Polk.

The Chronical Herald

by Edward Klump (Bloomberg)

TXU Corp., the Texas power producer that agreed to be sold in the largest-ever leveraged buyout, still faces opposition from environmental groups after scaling back expansion plans to win support for the deal.

Tom Smith, director of Public Citizen’s Texas office, said he’s seeking a two-year moratorium on construction of power plants fueled by pulverized coal. His comments followed a pledge by TXU to cancel eight of the 11 new coal-fueled generators it was planning and to support mandatory U.S. limits on power-plant emissions linked to global warming. The buyers still plan to build the three dirtiest plants in their proposal,'' Smith said today on a conference call with reporters. </p><div> </div><p> At stake is TXU's plan to lift profit by selling more low- cost electricity from coal plants amid growing demand in the largest power-consuming state. TXU announced its $45 billion sale to a buyout group led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts &amp; Co. and Texas Pacific Group five days after opponents of the expansion plan persuaded state officials to delay by four months the approval process for seven of the company's proposed generators. </p><div> </div><p> TXU still plans to build three generators at two plants that would be fueled by a type of coal called lignite, which is mined in Texas. The plants it's abandoning were to run on coal from Wyoming's Powder River Basin, which is cleaner-burning than lignite. </p><div> </div><p>We are certainly willing to talk to the new company coming in, but we are also prepared to fight,’’ said Karen Hadden, executive director of the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development Coalition in Austin, Texas. We don't want dirty coal in the state of Texas.'' </p><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><p> Hunger Strike<br />Hadden went on a 10-day hunger strike last year to attract attention to her fight against coal-fueled power in Texas. Smith said any new plants powered by coal should use pollution-cutting technologies such as gasification and carbon sequestration. </p><div> </div><p> TXU said its decision to drop eight of the proposed units will prevent 56 million tons of carbon emissions annually. The company will devote $400 million to cutting power demand. </p><div> </div><p> The compromise won praise from such environmental groups as the Natural Resources Defense Council. David G. Hawkins, director of the council's Climate Center, and Jim Marston, regional director for Environmental Defense, said the buyout firms involved in the TXU deal had negotiated with them on emissions-cutting concessions. </p><div> </div><div> </div><p> Reserving Judgment<br />Dallas Mayor Laura Miller previously accused TXU ofpurposely misleading the public in order to build old- technology coal plants the cheapest way possible to get the biggest return on their money.’’ Miller, who said today she’s pleased the expansion was scaled back, questioned why the buyers would support lignite-fueled units and why national environmental groups would effectively bless the plan.

Environmental Defense doesn't speak for 36 cities, counties and school districts,'' Miller said, referring to a coalition she helped form to fight proposals for coal plants. </p><div> </div><p> David Litman, co-chairman of Texas Business for Clean Air, said he was thrilled by TXU's announcement. He said he's waiting for more details on the company's plans for its existing and proposed plants. </p><div> </div><p> It's significant that the cutbacks involve Texas instead of a state like California that is viewed as more of a leader on pollution issues, said Marston of Environmental Defense. </p><div> </div><div> </div><p> Need for Power<br />Governor Rick Perry had tried to speed up the approval process for TXU's new plants. Perry, in a statement today, applauded the TXU announcement, calling it aninvestment in emissions reductions, renewable sources and Texas jobs.’’

Ted Royer, a spokesman for Perry, said about 10,000 megawatts of new generation capacity is still planned in Texas in the next several years, including the three TXU units. The new units, which will run on coal, wind and natural gas, will meet the state’s need for additional power in the short term, he said.

The compromise was made to quiet critics and enable the deal to get approved quickly, said Gregory Phelps, who has TXU shares among the $5 billion in assets he oversees at MFC Global Investment Management in Boston.

If in two or three or four years you start getting brownouts and blackouts on really hot days in Texas, whoever owns the plants that TXU owns now can say, `Well, we told you,''' he said.</p><p><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601207&sid=a8B7n5llAN_w&refer=energy">BLOOMBERG</a><br /> </p> </div> </div> <div class="post uncustomized-post-template"> <table border="0"><tr> <td width="40"> <br /> </td> <td> <h3 class="post-title"><a href="http://bajaenergys.blogspot.com/2007/02/usa-txu-says-texas-regulators-buyout.html">USA: TXU Says Texas Regulators Buyout Approval Not Needed</a></h3> </td> </tr></table><span class="post-labels"><div> <div align="right"><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/baja-EnergyBlog-laveaga"><img border="0" alt="www.BajaeNergyBLOG.com" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/baja-EnergyBlog-laveaga.gif" style="border: 0pt none ;" /></a></div> </div>&nbsp; </span><span class="item-action"> <a href="http://www2.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=21987184&postID=2381870976055177616" title="Email Post"> </a></span><br /> <div class="post-body"> <p>By Jim Polson (Bloomberg) <br /></p><div>TXU Corp. said it doesn't need approval from Texas regulators to complete the $45 billion sale of the company to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts &amp; Co. and Texas Pacific Group, in the biggest-ever leveraged buyout. </div><div> </div><p> The Texas law that opened the state's electricity markets to competition limits the Public Utility Commission to assessing the effect of mergers on TXU's regulated business, TXU General Counsel David Poole said today on a conference call. The company's only regulated business owns transmission and distribution. It is smaller than the power generation unit. </p><div> </div><p>It just shows how far Texas has gone in deregulating the electric industry,’’ said Gregory Phelps, who owns TXU shares among $5 billion managed at MFC Global Investment Management in Boston. It almost doesn't matter who it is so long as they're not loading debt into the regulated business, and that's not part of the buyout plan.'' </p><div> </div><p> Concern about the role of state regulators arose because both KKR and Texas Pacific were stymied in previous attempts to take over utilities elsewhere in the U.S. The largest proposed utility merger before today's deal was also derailed by state opposition. </p><div> </div><p> TXU's buyers will need approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Federal Communications Commission and federal antitrust approval, company spokeswoman Lisa Singleton said. </p><div> </div><p> Rates<br />Texas commissioners can onlydisallow the effect’’ of a change of ownership when weighing proposed rates for the transmission and distribution business, according to a copy of state law provided today by commission staff. They could, for example, find that increased costs were unreasonable because of the buyout and reject a request to pass them along to customers.

Sales were $1.87 billion for TXU’s transmission and distribution unit for the first nine months of 2006, compared with $7.5 billion at TXU’s wholesale power and retail electricity businesses. Profit from the regulated unit was $282 million, versus $1.88 billion for the power supply unit. The company is scheduled to report fourth-quarter results tomorrow.

Still, KKR and the other companies in the buyout group may face smaller hurdles at the Public Utility Commission or roadblocks from the state legislature concerned that the takeover will raise electricity prices, Paul Fremont, a utility analyst at Jefferies & Co. in New York, said in an interview.

Regulators, Lawmakers
A December report by the utility commission urged new laws to assure that TXU, the state’s largest power supplier, can’t push up prices. The commission itself could tighten scrutiny of the company’s competitive business or curtail some profitable practices, Fremont said.

The legislature also may change the law, he said. Jefferies has a hold'' on TXU and Fremont doesn't own the shares. </p><div> </div><p> The buyout firms, joined by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and three other investment banks in the purchase, will split the company into separate generation, electricity delivery and retail businesses once they take it private, TXU Chief Executive Officer C. John Wilder said today on the call. The businesses will be run more independently than allowed by federal laws governing publicly traded companies, he said. </p><div> </div><p> TXU separated its power-generation and retail power sales businesses from its regulated power-line operations to comply with the Texas competition law. </p><div> </div><p> Failed Buyouts<br />A KKR-led investor group abandoned an $880 million offer to buy UniSource Energy Corp., owner of the Tucson-Arizona-based utility, after the Arizona Corporation Commission rejected its terms in December 2004. </p><div> </div><p> Texas Pacific Group quit a $1.4 billion offer for Portland General Electric, a utility owned by bankrupt energy trader Enron Corp., after rejection by the Oregon Public Utility Commission a year ago. </p><div> </div><p> Oregon regulators said the takeover would have hurt customers by saddling the utility with $1.7 billion of debt, imperiling its credit rating and raising borrowing costs that eventually would have been passed on as higher bills. </p><div> </div><p>The funding of the transaction will not result in new debt incurred at the regulated utility business,’’ TXU, KKR, Texas Pacific and Goldman Sachs said in a statement today announcing their agreement.

New Jersey
The largest U.S. utility takeover ever attempted, Chicago- based Exelon Corp.’s $17.8 billion offer for Newark, New Jersey- based Public Service Enterprise Group Inc., collapsed in September over terms demanded by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

New Jersey officials, concerned that the buyout would raise electricity prices, had asked Exelon to sell more plants than it had planned to assure competition.

There's always regulatory risk when you're talking about regulated assets being sold,'' said Phelps.Here, it’s not another utility buying the company. There’s no market-power issues because it’s not another big generator.’‘

BLOOMBERG

Saudi Arabia has discovered an oil field in the east of the country near the giant Ghawar field.

‘Saudi Aramco has discovered a new oil field south east of Ghawar field,’ the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted oil minister Ali Al Naimi as saying. ‘On February 11, oil from the Derwaza-1 well … flowed at a rate of 3,915 bpd associated with 11.9 million cubic feet of gas daily,’ he added.

The well, 70 km (43.5 miles) south of Ghawar, is expected to produce at higher levels, he said. He gave no further details on the size of the find or potential future production.

Saudi Arabia claims about 260 billion barrels of reserves, nearly a quarter of the world’s total, according to the BP Statistical Review. Saudi oil officials say it also has gas reserves of 242 trillion cubic feet, making it the world’s fifth largest holder of proven gas reserves.

The Crown Prince of Qatar Shaikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani laid the foundation stone for the Pearl Gas to Liquids (GTL) project, a world-scale integrated project that will make Qatar the GTL capital of the world.

Pearl GTL is not only the world’s largest integrated GTL project, but also the largest energy project ever launched within the borders of Qatar.

The ceremony at Ras Laffan Industrial City was attended by dignitaries including Prince Charles, the Chief Executive of Royal Dutch Shell plc, Jeroen van der Veer, and visitors from Qatar and abroad.

The Pearl GTL project is being developed under a Development and Production Sharing Agreement with the government of the State of Qatar. The agreement covers offshore and onshore project development and operations, with Shell providing 100 per cent of project funding, said an official spokesman.

Upstream some 1.6 billion cubic feet of wellhead gas will be produced, transported and processed per day to produce 120,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day of condensate, liquefied petroleum gas and ethane.

Downstream dry gas will be used as feedstock to produce 140,000 barrels per day of clean, high quality GTL fuels and products. The Pearl GTL project is expected to produce some 3 billion barrels of oil equivalent wellhead gas over the period of the Development and Production Sharing Agreement.

A total of $10 billion of contracts have already been awarded for the project, including all major engineering, procurement and construction contracts. Construction began in the third quarter of 2006.

‘GTL represents a strategic diversification for Qatar in the development of our natural gas resources. In line with the wise vision of His Highness Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar, we intend to make Qatar the GTL capital of the world. Pearl GTL is a major part of that endeavour and I am pleased that with our partners Shell we have reached this milestone,’ said second deputy premier and Minister of Energy and Industry of Qatar Abdullah Bin Hamad Al Attiyah.

TRADEARABIA

Chevron is not interested in taking a stake in Saudi Arabia’s Jizan oil refinery project in the kingdom’s western region, a company executive said.

‘The refinery in the west is not something that Chevron would be participating in,’ Chevron vice-chairman Peter Robertson said in Saudi Arabia on the sidelines of the Jeddah Economic Forum.

‘It wouldn’t make strategic sense to participate in a refinery there,’ he added when asked about the Jizan refinery, which would have a capacity of up to 400,000 barrels per day.

A Saudi official has said the refinery would be offered to the private sector and would be built in participation with a foreign partner. Saudi Arabia aims to boost refining capacity at home to over 3 million bpd from about 2.2 million bpd, officials have said.

The kingdom has already signed deals worth $12 billion for two new refineries—one with France’s Total at Jubail and one with ConocoPhillips in Yanbu. They will produce 800,000 bpd of products by the end of the decade.

TRADEARABIA

by Jasmina Kelemen (MarketWatch)

Europe need a new energy policy, now there are a lot of challeges vs the Climate Changeatte. Manuel Torres

read more | digg story

EU Commission President Jose Barroso said Sunday that the 27-member union had to move on taking climate control steps and position itself as the world leader in the fight against further damage to the environment.

In an interview with German tabloid Bild am Sonntag, Barroso said that the upcoming EU summit at the beginning of March would give state leaders an opportunity to take decisive steps regarding "one of the great global challenges of our time.

"We have talked for long enough—now we must act," said Barroso, who is planning on

delivering a key note on climate policy in his home country Portugal on Monday. He called on members states to come to "clear-cut decisions about the corner stones of our future energy policy as 80 percent of all carbon gas emissions come from energy." Barroso added that the EU Commission was committed to lower emissions by 30 percent by 2020.

"Citizens want that these goals are really reached and we cannot afford not to reach them," he said.

German calls for bulb ban

German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel meanwhile came out in support of a ban against incandescent light bulbs. The Australian government announced last week that it plans to ban this type of light bulbs as a climate control measure.

"Europe cannot really afford products that have an energy efficiency of five percent, such as incandescent light bulbs," Gabriel wrote to EU Environmental Commissioner Stavros Dimas, according to Bild am Sonntag.

The German minister added that Europe should introduce standards against energy-wasting products. According to studies, some 25 million tons of carbon monoxide emissions could be prevented if old-fashioned light bulbs would be replaced with newer, energy-efficient models. Dimas himself seems open to the idea.

"We are testing whether an EU standard for environmentally-friendly light bulbs can be introduced," Dimas told German newsmagazine Focus.

DW News

KKR, run by Henry Kravis and George Roberts, and Texas Pacific will pay between $69 and $70 a share, or almost $10 more than TXU’s closing price at the end of last week. They will also assume about $12 billion in debt, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the deal hasn’t been announced.

Kravis and Roberts, both 63, upended the buyout world in 1989 with their $31 billion purchase of food- and tobacco-maker RJR Nabisco Inc. It was the largest LBO ever and remained so until November, when KKR joined in the $33 billion buyout of hospital chain HCA Inc. That deal was topped this month by Blackstone Group’s takeover of Equity Office Properties Trust, the biggest U.S. owner of office buildings, for $39 billion.

The general availability of money is driving all of these transactions higher and higher,'' said Todd Richey, 41, a former investment banker with Banc of America Securities who now teaches finance at the University of California at Irvine's business school.Occasionally, there’s hubris or irrational exuberance, but with the low cost of capital right now, there’s lots of opportunities for big deals to be successful.’’

TXU, after almost going bankrupt in 2002 because of a failed overseas expansion, has rebounded and may earn $2.6 billion in 2006, up 51 percent from a year earlier, according to the average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Natural-gas prices that more than tripled in this decade have increased power prices in Texas, making TXU’s coal and nuclear plants more valuable.

Good Cash Machine'<br />The plants can produce more than 18,300 megawatts, and the company is also the largest electricity retailer in the state, selling power to more than 2.2 million homes and businesses. TXU owns a transmission business that could be sold to pay off debt used to fund the LBO. </p><div> </div><p> TXU ``turned into a good cash machine,'' said Perry Sioshansi, president of Menlo Energy Economics, a consulting firm in Walnut Creek, California. </p><div> </div><p> Lisa Singleton, a spokeswoman for Dallas-based TXU, couldn't be reached for comment. Mark Semer, a KKR spokesman, and Owen Blicksilver, a representative for Texas Pacific, declined to comment. </p><div> </div><div> </div><p> Lehman, Morgan Stanley<br />KKR and Texas Pacific will spend $5 billion on the deal, and four investment banks, including Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Morgan Stanley, will put up another $3.5 billion, the people said. The rest of the purchase price will be borrowed. </p><div> </div><p> Closely held LBO firms use a mix of cash from investors plus their own funds and debt secured on the target they buy to finance their deals. They typically seek to expand companies or improve performance before selling them within five years. </p><div> </div><p> Spokeswomen Torie von Alt at Lehman and Marie Ali at Morgan Stanley declined to comment. Both banks are based in New York. </p><div> </div><p> TXU Chief Executive Officer C. John Wilder will have a small slice of the equity investment and will continue to run the company, the people said. Wilder, 48, has overseen an almost fivefold gain in TXU shares since taking over in February 2004. Wilder has returned TXU to a focus on electric generation and distribution in the Dallas region. </p><div> </div><p> TXU will have 50 days to consider any other offers for the company, the people said. </p><div> </div><p> To help gain approval for the transaction, TXU and its buyers are agreeing to abandon eight of 11 coal-fired generators the company planned to build and support mandatory U.S. limits on power-plant pollution that contributes to global warming. </p><div> </div><div> </div><p> Opposition to Plants<br />The Natural Resources Defense Council and Environmental Defense negotiated in the past two weeks with the buyout firms and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which is advising on and financing the transaction. The company also will devote $400 million to cutting power demand in Texas. </p><div> </div><p> Wilder's power plant expansion aimed to give the company more low-cost power to sell in the state's deregulated wholesale market. The prospect of increased pollution that could make smog worse in Houston and Dallas, and emissions of carbon dioxide, stirred opposition among environmentalists and mayors in the state. </p><div> </div><p> Two proposed buyouts of utilities have failed in recent years, and two of the largest U.S. utility mergers have also been undone by opposition from state regulators and politicians. </p><div> </div><p> Closely held LBO firms use a mix of cash from investors plus their own funds and debt secured on the target they buy to finance their deals. They typically seek to expand companies or improve performance before selling them within five years. </p><div> </div><div> </div><p> Deals Get Bigger<br />KKR, based in New York, and Texas Pacific of Fort Worth, Texas, have been partners on earlier utility buyouts. In July 2004, the firms were part of a group that bought Houston-based Texas Genco Holdings Inc. for $3.65 billion. They sold the company, the second-largest power generator in Texas, to NRG Energy Inc. for $5.8 billion in February 2006. </p><div> </div><p> Buyout firms announced a record of more than $700 billion in takeovers last year, and almost $50 billion so far this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Investors, seeking returns that exceed stocks and bonds, poured a $432 billion into private-equity funds last year, also a new high, according to London-based Private Equity Intelligence Ltd. </p><div> </div><p> That money is increasingly going into bigger deals. The average price of the 10 largest buyouts stood at $25.5 billion before the TXU deal was announced, Bloomberg data show. KKR, Blackstone, Texas Pacific, Carlyle Group and Bain Capital LLC each had a role in two of those transactions. </p><div> </div><div> </div><p> Past Investments<br />KKR, founded in 1976, is almost done gathering $16.6 billion for its latest U.S. fund. Past investments include Toys ``R'' Us Inc., Sungard Data Systems Inc. and VNU Group BV. </p><div> </div><p> Texas Pacific was founded in 1992 by David Bonderman, 64, James Coulter, 47, and Bill Price, 50. It raised $15 billion last year. It has invested in about 75 companies, including Burger King Corp. and Continental Airlines Inc. </p><div> </div><p> TXU shares gained $2.38, or 4.1 percent, to $60.02 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading on Feb. 23, the biggest one-day gain in more than nine months. The merger was first reported after exchanges closed, and the shares jumped another $10 in after-hours trading. </p><div> </div><p> The cost of credit-default swaps tied to $10 million in bonds of TXU, rose $254 to $87,475 on Feb. 23, according to Bloomberg data. An increase in the contracts, used to speculate on a company's ability to repay its debt, suggests a deterioration in the perception of credit quality. </p> </div> </div> <div class="post uncustomized-post-template"> <table border="0"><tr> <td width="40"> <br /> </td> <td> <h3 class="post-title"><a href="http://bajaenergys.blogspot.com/2007/02/brasil-gas-natural-profit-falls-58-as.html">BRASIL: Gas Natural Profit Falls 5.8% as One-Time Gains Drop</a></h3> </td> </tr></table> <div class="post-body"> <p>by Kristian Rix (Bloomberg) <br /></p><div>Gas Natural SDG SA, Spain's largest natural-gas supplier, said profit fell 5.8 percent in the fourth quarter because it didn't repeat one-time gains from selling assets.<br /><br />Net income fell to 208 million euros ($274 million) from 220 million euros a year earlier, the Barcelona-based supplier said in a regulatory filing today. The decline was limited by earnings growth at the utility's electricity-generation unit.<br /><br />Chief Executive Officer Rafael Villaseca has built power plants to profit from Spain's reliance on natural gas to meet new electricity demand. The utility was forced to sell most of its gas-transport business because of government regulations, and it failed this year in a plan to acquire Endesa SA, the nation's largest power producer, in a hostile takeover.<br /><br />The shares rose 1 cent to 32.92 euros as of 9:32 a.m. in Madrid. Profit of 195 million euros was expected, according to a Bloomberg News survey.<br /><br />During 2006, Gas Natural booked a 248-million euro gain from the sale of shares in Enagas SA, the operator of Spain's network. Gas Natural had by August met government demands that it sell all except 5 percent of that company.<br /><br />Gas Natural has expanded its supply business in Latin America and built gas-fed power plants in Spain to make up for the loss of its near-monopoly in that market.<br /><br />Villaseca's plan to take over Endesa was thwarted when Germany's E.ON AG, made a higher bid that he could not match. Vice-Chairman Antonio Brufau said last month the gas supplier will now seek other alternatives to link more closely the gas and electricity businesses.<br /><br />New Construction<br />Spain and other European countries are replacing coal-fed power plants with gas-fed units because the latter are more efficient and produce less carbon dioxide, a gas blamed for global warming. Europe's emissions-trading program forces utilities to buy permits for every ton of the pollutant they spew that exceeds their government allotment.<br /><br />Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, or ebitda, at Gas Natural's electricity unit in Spain increased more than fourfold to 55 million euros after the utility started a gas-fed power plant in Cartagena, in the south-east of the country.<br /><br />The supplier has 2,800 megawatts-worth of gas-fed power plants and is building another 2,000 megawatts, which it plans to have running by the end of 2008.<br /><br />Gas Natural's Latin American gas business had an ebitda of 97 million euros, up 10 percent, driven by gains at its largest unit, in Brazil.<br /></div><div><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/">Bloomberg</a><br /></div> </div> </div> <div class="post uncustomized-post-template"> <table border="0"><tr> <td width="40"> <br /> </td> <td> <h3 class="post-title"><a href="http://bajaenergys.blogspot.com/2007/02/usa-citadel-shaw-tudor-shun-global.html">USA: Citadel, Shaw, Tudor Shun Global Warming as Short Sales Climb</a></h3> </td> </tr></table> <div class="post-body"> <p>by Daniel Hauck and Michael Tsang (Bloomberg) <br /></p><div>The smartest money in global warming stocks may be scurrying to the exit just when the enthusiasm for alternative-energy companies is at an all-time high.<br /><br />While SunPower Corp. and Theolia SA are among more than 180 companies whose shares have surged as much as 240 percent this year -- buoyed by efforts to curtail the observed increase in the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere and oceans --the market's nimblest investors already are hedging their bets.<br /><br />D.E. Shaw &amp; Co., Tudor Investment Corp., Citadel Investment Group LLC, Caxton Associates LLC, SAC Capital Advisors LLC and Pequot Capital Management Inc. reduced their stakes in solar- power and ethanol producers in the fourth quarter, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The hedge funds manage about $86 billion.<br /><br />``As an investment play,'' global warming is ``a bubble'' and ``social short-term craze,'' said Ken Fisher, who oversees $35 billion as chairman of Fisher Investments Inc. in Woodside, California.<br /><br />Anyone looking for corroboration of that assessment may find it in the so-called short selling of U.S. alternative-energy stocks last month, which climbed 45 times faster than the average for Standard &amp; Poor's 500 Index members.<br /><br />SunPower, the biggest U.S. producer of solar energy, had the largest jump in short sales relative to shares outstanding in the Nasdaq Stock Market. Short sellers sell borrowed stock on the bet price declines will let them to buy back the shares at a lower price and profit from the difference.<br /><br />Hedge Funds<br />Hedge funds, whose managers are among the highest-paid professionals on Wall Street, have turned away from the group, including solar-and wind-power producers, ethanol and biodiesel makers and fuel-cell manufacturers, as their shares trade at a record relative to earnings.<br /><br />Hedge funds are loosely regulated investment partnerships tailored to institutions such as pension funds and endowments, as well as people with typically at least $1 million in net worth. They manage an estimated $1.4 trillion in assets.<br /><br />Alternative-energy stocks became more costly as the United Nations said global warming is ``very likely'' caused by humans, President George W. Bush called for a fivefold jump in the U.S. use of renewable fuels over 10 years, and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation to install a million solar roofs in the state by 2018.<br /><br />Arise, SunPower<br />A group of alternative-energy stocks has risen 18 percent on average this year globally, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The 183 companies, with a combined market value of $92.3 billion, exceeded a 3.7 percent advance in the Morgan Stanley Capital International World Index.<br /><br />Arise Technologies Corp., which sells solar-powered battery rechargers, had the group's biggest gain. Shares of the Kitchener, Ontario-based company surged 240 percent.<br /><br />The Bloomberg World Energy-Alternate Sources Index, composed of 27 stocks, jumped 22 percent this year. SunPower, based in Sunnyvale, California, reached a record last week, while Theolia, a wind-energy company, gained 113 percent in 2007.<br /><br />Theolia rallied on an agreement to sell a 15 percent stake to General Electric Co., the biggest power-plant equipment maker. GE will pay 20 million euros ($26.3 million) and hand over 165 megawatts of wind farms in Germany to the Aix en Provence, France-based company.<br /><br />Kyoto Treaty<br />The European Union and 35 countries have agreed to cut emissions by 5.2 percent below 1990 levels, starting next year, through 2012 under the UN's Kyoto treaty on greenhouse gases.<br /><br />Even the U.S., which has refused to ratify the Kyoto treaty, said the human role in climate change is no longer debatable after the UN released its Feb. 2 report. The country is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases.<br /><br />Speculation that demand for alternative energy will soar has made the industry's shares more expensive. The Bloomberg World index is valued at 44 times estimated earnings, up from 28 times in June and about triple the ratio for the MSCI World.<br /><br />Companies in the Bloomberg U.S. Energy-Alternative Index are even pricier. Based on forecast earnings, their shares are valued at an average of 60 times. Five of the 12 members of the index reported losses in 2006.<br /><br />Shares of SunPower, which have risen 158 percent since the company's initial public offering in November 2005, trade at 49 times forecast profit. S&amp;P 500 companies on average are valued at 15.7 times estimated earnings.<br /><br />Through the Roof’
In the solar-energy universe, you can see how all the shares have gone through the roof,'' said Rajesh Varma, manager of the $141 million Carmignac Innovation fund in Paris.People have made a lot of money, and now you need to stand back.’‘

Varma, who started looking at alternative-energy stocks two years ago, sold his stakes of Conergy AG and Solarworld AG, Germany’s two largest solar-power companies. He also dumped his shares of Suzlon Energy Ltd., India’s biggest builder of wind turbines, in December.

D.E. Shaw founder David Shaw, who advised former President Bill Clinton on science and technology and made an estimated $340 million in 2005, sold 146,692 shares of SunPower last quarter. The sales at the firm, which manages about $25 billion, reduced its stake by 84 percent.

The firm trimmed its holdings in VeraSun Energy Corp., a Brookings, South Dakota-based company that’s the second-largest U.S. ethanol producer, by 14 percent and in Headwaters Inc., a South Jordan, Utah-based coal processor, by 13 percent.

D.E. Shaw, Tudor
New York-based D.E. Shaw also sold all of its 179,100 shares in Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings Inc., the fourth-largest U.S. ethanol producer, located in Pekin, Illinois. Kari Elassal, a spokeswoman for D.E. Shaw, declined to comment on its holdings.

Tudor Investment, the hedge-fund firm headed by Paul Tudor Jones that oversees $16.1 billion and is located in Greenwich, Connecticut, also cashed out its stake in Aventine. Tudor spokesman Steve Bruce wasn’t immediately available for comment.

Kenneth Griffin’s Citadel, a $13.4 billion hedge fund based in Chicago, and Bruce Kovner’s Caxton, a New York-based fund that oversees more than $12 billion, sold out of SunPower.

Bryan Locke, spokesman for Citadel, declined to comment, while Caxton’s spokeswoman Toby Young was not immediately available for comment.

Thematic Bet'<br />SAC, a $12 billion hedge fund run by Steven Cohen, sold all of its 216,413 shares in Pacific Ethanol Inc. last quarter. The Stamford, Connecticut-based fund bought the stock in the third quarter. Pacific Ethanol, based in Fresno, California, counts Bill Gates as its largest holder.<br /><br />Pequot Capital, a $7.6 billion fund manager based in Westport, Connecticut, sold its shares of Headwaters. The firm also reduced its stake in Covanta Holding Corp., a Fairfield, New Jersey-based company that produces energy from municipal solid waste, by almost half.<br /><br />Jonathan Gasthalter, a spokesman for SAC, and Christopher Kittredge, a spokesman for Pequot, both declined to comment.<br /><br />``The unwinds in those positions were probably somewhat correlated to the reduced demand and pricing pressures in oil,'' Talbot Stark, BNP Paribas SA's global hedge fund relationship manager, said in London. ``It was a thematic bet, so if you see oil prices come off and they dip down to $52 or so, the whole momentum in alternative energy sources abates for a moment.''<br /><br />Crude-oil futures, which reached a record $78.40 a barrel in July, fell to as low as $54.86 in the fourth quarter.<br /><br />More Shorts<br />This quarter, hedge funds and other investors that can profit from share-price drops have increased their bets against U.S. alternative-energy stocks, industry statistics indicate.<br /><br />The total short interest on the companies in the Bloomberg U.S. index of alternative-energy stocks surged 68 percent last month on average. First Solar Inc., a Phoenix-based maker of solar modules that sold shares to the public on Nov. 16, had the biggest increase in short interest with a 626 percent jump.<br /><br />Excluding First Solar, short interest climbed 12 percent, compared with a 1.5 percent increase for S&amp;P 500 companies, calculations by Bloomberg show.<br /><br />Almost half of SunPower's float, or shares available for trading, was borrowed and sold as of mid-January. The short interest rose 15.4 percentage points from mid-December, the biggest increase for any Nasdaq-listed company. This month's figures are due this week.<br /><br />``By itself, I don't know that global warming is a viable investment theme,'' said Malcolm Polley, who oversees $1 billion at Stewart Capital Advisors LLC in Indiana, Pennsylvania. ``It's largely Wall Street's answer of trying to create something where there really isn't anything that exists.''<br /><br />Citigroup, Lehman<br /><br />Citigroup Inc., the biggest U.S. bank, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the fourth-largest U.S. securities firm, and UBS AG, the world's biggest money manager, each published 100-plus page reports this year on how investors can capitalize on efforts by governments and companies to combat global warming.<br /><br />``We're approaching a perennialtipping point,’‘’ Ed Kerschner, Citigroup Investment Research’s chief investment officer and the author of the firm’s report, said from New York. You're going to get some imminent responses. These things are going to happen in 2008 and 2009, not 20 years from now.''<br /><br />SunPower was among 74 companies identified by Citigroup that stand to profit from demand for clean-energy technologies. The list also included Q-Cells AG, a solar-cell maker based in Thalheim, Germany, and Cropenergies AG, an ethanol producer located in Mannheim, Germany.<br /><br />Ian Scott, Lehman's global equity strategist in London, included two wind-turbine makers among his firm's 15 picks: Randers, Denmark-based Vestas Wind Systems A/S, the world's biggest, and Clipper Windpower Plc, based in London.<br /><br />Ethanol Shares<br />Alternative-energy stocks have slumped before. Since surging to a record in May, Pacific Ethanol has lost more than half its value on concerns the stock price had outstripped demand for the fuel and that prices of corn, used to make ethanol, are rising.<br /><br />Some solar-energy companies have slid because of their inability to turn a profit even as demand increases. Marlboro, Massachusetts-based Evergreen Solar Inc. said this month that its fourth-quarter loss was $5.5 million, wider than a year ago, as revenue almost tripled. The stock had the biggest decline in seven months after the results were announced.<br /><br />Alternative energyis all the rage,’’ said Stuart Schweitzer, New York-based global strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, which oversees about $1 trillion. That does not mean that as an investor you'll be able to make money.''<br /></div><div><a href="http://bloomberg.com/">Bloomberg</a><br /></div> </div> </div> <div class="post uncustomized-post-template"> <table border="0"><tr> <td width="40"> <br /> </td> <td> <h3 class="post-title"><a href="http://bajaenergys.blogspot.com/2007/02/usa-ge-lehman-backing-for-emissions.html">USA: GE, Lehman Backing for Emissions Curbs Puts Heat on Congress</a></h3> </td> </tr></table><span class="post-labels"><div> <div align="right"><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/baja-EnergyBlog-laveaga"><img border="0" alt="www.BajaeNergyBLOG.com" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/baja-EnergyBlog-laveaga.gif" style="border: 0pt none ;" /></a></div> </div></span> <div class="post-body"> <p> by Kim Chipman and Tina Seeley (Bloomberg) <br /></p><div>Senator James Inhofe, who calls the consensus that humans cause global warming a corruption of science, shot off a warning letter to more than 60 chief executive officers in December. The Oklahoma Republican told the leaders not to support bills this year to cap carbon dioxide emissions, saying Wall Street might penalize shares of their companies. </div><p> The admonition was Inhofe's latest salvo to derail the growing movement of companies, scientists and lawmakers pushing for mandatory limits on the release of greenhouse gases. </p><div> </div><p> In January, a new alliance of corporations including General Electric Co. called for caps in the U.S., which emits a quarter of the world's carbon pollution. Two weeks later, a United Nations panel released its finding that humans are the main cause of global warming. Both moves emboldened Democrats, who've introduced five bills to reduce greenhouse emissions. </p><div> </div><p> Inhofe isn't conceding defeat yet. The 2008 presidential election makes it less likely the U.S. will enact carbon caps anytime soon, says Christine Todd Whitman, a former Republican governor of New Jersey and head of the Environmental Protection Agency. </p><div> </div><p>It’s going to be hard,’’ says Whitman, who’s now a consultant on environmental issues. Watch out for the very fulsome discussion that always ends with a poison pill. One side will insert something into the final bill that they know the others can't accept in order to have it as a campaign issue in 2008.'' </p><div> </div><p> The United Nations panel predicts temperatures are likely to increase by 1.1 to 6.4 degrees Celsius (2 to 11.5 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of this century and the global sea level may rise 18 to 59 centimeters (7 to 23 inches). That jump might submerge large parts of the barrier islands and damage property along the coasts of Florida and the Gulf Coast, scientists say. </p><div> </div><p> McCain's Cap Bill<br />The warmer temperatures are accelerating the melting of Arctic sea ice, which spurred the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in December to propose listing polar bears as a threatened species. James Hansen, the U.S. government's top climate scientist, says the U.S. must begin to slow carbon emissions in the next 10 years to prevent large-scale, irreversible damage to ecosystems and economies around the globe. </p><div> </div><p> Presidential hopeful John McCain, a Republican senator from Arizona, helped draft legislation for acap and trade’’ program: Polluters emitting less carbon than allowed under the law would be able to sell or trade their excess pollution permits to others.

The measure has been co-sponsored by nine senators, including two Democrats running for the White House: Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois.

The political ground has shifted,'' says Senate Energy Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat.There’s a real prospect for passing legislation.’’

Corporate Climate Alliance
The U.S. Climate Action Partnership, an alliance of 10 corporations including securities firm Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and power producer Duke Energy Corp., gives Democrats a boost, says Timothy Wirth, a former senator and climate negotiator for President Bill Clinton. Wirth calls the alliance the most significant development in addressing climate change since the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the multinational agreement that President George W. Bush opposed because he said it would hurt the economy.

It will provide every political figure with a lot of cover,'' Wirth says. </p><div> </div><p> Duke Energy, one of the nation's largest generators of coal- fired power, says carbon regulation is inevitable and would prefer Congress to enact rules so it can plan for the future. For members like GE, carbon caps are also a market to exploit, says James Rogers, CEO of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Duke Energy. </p><div> </div><p>It’s an opportunity for many of our businesses to develop technologies that could be used worldwide,’’ he says.

Edison Electric Institute Row
Inhofe, the ranking Republican on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, said that carbon caps legislation wouldn’t likely get the votes needed to pass. Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, an environmental group that lobbies in Washington in favor of carbon limits, agrees.

You still have a lot of senators from states that view themselves as carbon producers,'' Pope says.And you have a lot of senators ideologically opposed to having the federal government do anything.’’

Edison Electric Institute, a Washington-based lobbying group for utilities such as Southern Co. and Duke Energy, has a divided membership on emissions caps. The participation of Duke Energy and other utilities in the alliance caused a row within the EEI, with some members suggesting Rogers should be stripped of his title as chairman of the group, according to people who requested anonymity because they aren’t permitted to talk on the matter. Rogers declined to comment on this matter.

China Waits
In February, EEI issued a statement in favor of federal legislation to reduce emissions. The vaguely worded release, which made no mention of mandatory caps, said any legislation must have minimal economic impact. Electricity prices would jump as much as 13 percent as utilities passed on the costs of compliance to consumers under a bill Bingaman is drafting, according to a U.S. Energy Department estimate.

China and India are waiting for the U.S. to impose caps before they do, says Abyd Karmali, a managing director at Fairfax, Virginia-based ICF International Inc., an adviser to nations on the Kyoto Protocol.

China and India will definitely not take on caps before a country they believe has the moral responsibility to reduce emissions first,'' Karmali says. </p><div> </div><p> The U.S. released 19.7 metric tons of energy emissions per person in 2004 compared with 3.7 metric tons for China, the International Energy Agency says. </p><div> </div><p> Bush's Legacy<br />European Union lawmakers say the region plans to cut its greenhouse gasses 20 percent by 2020 compared with 1990 levels. The EU would increase that figure to 30 percent if the U.S. imposed caps, says European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas. </p><div> </div><p> Bush, who acknowledged that climate change was a serious challenge in his State of the Union address in January, may be more willing to support legislation as he considers his legacy, says Senator Tom Carper, a Delaware Democrat. Carper says he spoke to Bush the day after the State of the Union at a visit to DuPont Co. in Delaware. </p><div> </div><p>A parade is forming, a consensus is forming here,’’ Carper says he told the president. You need to lead the parade.'' </p><div> </div><p> The senator, who also raised the matter with the president nine months earlier at the White House, perceived a change in Bush.I think he was just more receptive,’’ Carper says.

If not, the next president will have to decide whether higher electricity bills are a cost worth paying to reduce the risk of devastation from melting icecaps and rising seas.

by Vibeke Laroi and Bruce Blythe (Bloomberg)

by Fred Pals and Joana Quintanilha

Solbes no quiere la fusión Iberdrola-Fenosa, Clos sí

Iberdrola presentará un nuevo plan estratégico con Scottish

Además, aseguró que para la elaboración de este plan global se estudiará el escenario actual para analizar qué zonas requieren más inversiones y en qué activos es conveniente desinvertir.

De esta manera, el primer ejecutivo de Iberdrola eludió contestar sobre su posible salida del capital de EDP, donde tiene una participación del 10%, dado que este plan marcará las pautas a seguir.

La compañía, no obstante, prevé afianzar su posición de liderazgo mundial en el sector de las energías renovables y seguir con las inversiones en las tecnologías de generación de electricidad más limpias.

OPERACIÓN ‘SIN CONDICIONES’
Sánchez Galán repasó las bondades del acuerdo de integración con Scottish por 17.100 millones y destacó que la operación ha sido recientemente aprobada por la Comisión Europea sin condiciones.

Además, subrayó su confianza en que la operación culmine con éxito a finales de abril de este año, una vez que se obtengan el resto de autorizaciones pertinentes.

Previamente, en una presentación a analistas y preguntado sobre las ventajas fiscales en España respecto a las de Reino Unido, Sánchez Galán indicó que mientras no haya una homogeneidad de los Estados miembros respecto a este asunto "no hay ningún motivo para que esta ventaja pueda desaparecer".

AMPLIACIÓN DE CAPITAL
Para financiar parte de esta operación, Iberdrola propondrá a la próxima junta de accionistas, que se celebrará el próximo 29 de marzo, ampliar capital en 8.625 millones, con la emisión de 263,3 millones de títulos, para financiar parte de la compra de Scottish Power, la mayor ampliación de la historia en España, y desdoblar cada acción (‘split’) en cuatro.

Sánchez Galán justificó este ‘split’ para facilitar a los minoritarios a tener una situación más favorable y para atraer a los pequeños accionistas.

El presidente incidió en que esta operación se realiza en un país cuyo mercado energético está liberalizado y con una empresa que integra actividades de generación, distribución y comercialización; con lo que estimó que su resultado tendrá un impacto positivo sobre los beneficios y el ‘cash flow’, y mantendrá la solidez financiera.

Además, la integración dará lugar a "uno de los líderes energéticos europeos", con un valor de empresa ‘pro forma’ de cerca de 64.000 millones de euros, una amplia presencia geográfica y unos firmes pilares sobre los que asentar el crecimiento futuro.

Iberdrola insiste en que la fusión con Unión Fenosa es «hoy por hoy imposible»
Sánchez Galán insinúa que habrá deslocalizaciones en energías renovables si el Gobierno retira las subvenciones
by J. DÍAZ DE ALDA and COLPISA

Galán trata de enfriar la posible fusión entre Iberdrola y Fenosa
by R. Casado

• Las inversiones en Abertis e Iberdrola son estratégicas.

• No van a vender su 40% en Unión Fenosa. Al contrario, Fenosa se convertirá en la cabecerá de la nueva división de energía de ACS.
• Venderán Continental Auto, y si la venta se hace finalmente este año no tienen previsto vender nada más.
• Aumentarán su participación en Iberdrola en función del precio.
• Siguen apostando por una fusión Autostrade-Abertis, pero cree que Autostrade necesita más tiempo para convencer al Gobierno italiano.

El organismo (EIA por su sigla en inglés) dijo que los inventarios en la región consumidora del este del país descendieron en 151.000 millones de pies cúbicos; mientras que en la del oeste disminuyeron en 12.000 millones de pies cúbicos. En la región productora cayeron 60.000 millones de pies cúbicos.

REUTERS