El Paso Corp

When Douglas Foshee became El Paso Corp.'s chief executive three years ago, he had a mess on his hands. Now he's running a much slimmer company out of crisis mode. Gone are more than $7 billion in assets, including two refineries, El Paso's natural gas processing business and a slew of power plants. Gone with much of those assets are nearly two-thirds of its former workforce of 15,000. And gone is the specter of failure as Foshee looks toward growth, not restructuring.

Three former natural gas traders of El Paso Corp., based in Houston, were convicted of reporting false deals to manipulate gas prices from 2000 to 2002. A U.S. federal court jury convicted James Brooks, Wesley Walton and James Patrick Phillips of sending publications Inside FERC and Natural Gas Intelligence false trade data to defraud the markets. Sentencing is scheduled for May 23.

A Texas energy conglomerate accused of driving up natural gas prices in California might have amassed monopolistic power at times last year, according to opening testimony Monday before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. FERC economist Jonathan Ogur said that under certain conditions during the past year, a subsidiary of El Paso Corp. of Houston might have controlled as much as 45% of the pipeline capacity for shipping gas to Southern California.

Two power companies will pay $84 million to settle claims against them stemming from the 2000-01 California energy crisis, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said Thursday. The agency found widespread manipulation during the power crisis in Western states in 2000 and 2001, when California endured a huge jump in natural gas and electricity prices, rolling blackouts and the bankruptcy filing of its biggest utility.

Energy producer El Paso Corp., which has been accused of driving up the price of natural gas in California, said Monday that second-quarter earnings beat analysts' estimates because of profit from power generation and gas distribution. Profit from operations was 77 cents to 79 cents a share, Houston-based El Paso said in a statement. It was expected to earn 76 cents, the average estimate of analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial. A year earlier, El Paso earned 58 cents.

El Paso Corp. sought Wednesday to minimize the scope of a potential fine after a judge concluded that the company's trading unit unfairly won capacity on its pipeline to Southern California last year. Chief Executive William Wise said the Houston-based company, owner of the longest U.S. natural gas pipeline system, will ask federal regulators to exonerate it or impose no fine.

El Paso Corp., owner of the biggest U.S. natural gas pipeline system, completed a previously announced settlement with California and other Western states worth about $1.7 billion over allegations that it manipulated natural gas prices during the state's energy crisis.

The head of a Texas energy conglomerate personally endorsed a deal between two subsidiaries accused of manipulating the natural gas market in Southern California to drive up prices, a senior official of the firm testified Thursday. The testimony in a trial-like hearing before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission raised questions about whether top officials of Houston-based El Paso Corp. violated FERC rules requiring arm's-length dealings within a corporate family.

The nation's biggest natural gas pipeline company illegally manipulated the California market during the energy crisis, a federal regulatory judge said Monday in a ruling that could bolster wide-ranging claims for refunds. El Paso Corp. used a variety of strategies in 2000-01 to withhold an average of at least 345 million cubic feet of natural gas a day from California customers, creating an artificial shortage that drove up prices, concluded Judge Curtis L. Wagner Jr.

Amid questions about the environmental effect of its proposed $350-million liquid natural gas terminal in Baja California, El Paso Corp. went public Monday with new details of the project designed to fill the growing gas needs of California and Mexico. Mexico and the Western United States are facing natural gas shortages in coming years as they need more fuel to produce electricity.

When Douglas Foshee became El Paso Corp.'s chief executive three years ago, he had a mess on his hands. Now he's running a much slimmer company out of crisis mode. Gone are more than $7 billion in assets, including two refineries, El Paso's natural gas processing business and a slew of power plants. Gone with much of those assets are nearly two-thirds of its former workforce of 15,000. And gone is the specter of failure as Foshee looks toward growth, not restructuring.

Sempra Energy Chief Executive Stephen Baum said Thursday that he could not recall that a meeting took place in 1996 between subordinates and El Paso Corp. executives, as testimony began in the trial of a lawsuit accusing the two companies of plotting to limit natural gas supplies in California. "I don't have an independent recollection of this meeting," Baum said under questioning by Pierce O'Donnell, a lawyer for utility customers.

Sempra Energy, owner of the largest U.S. natural gas utility, was accused in a class-action trial that began Wednesday of sparking California's energy crisis by conspiring to limit the state's gas supplies. Pierce O'Donnell, a lawyer for utility customers, said Sempra agreed with El Paso Corp. in 1996 to prevent the construction of pipelines that would have brought more natural gas into the state.

El Paso Corp., owner of the largest U.S. network of natural gas pipelines, posted first-quarter net income of $106 million as the company profited on the sale of its stake in Enterprise Products Partners. Per-share profit was 17 cents, contrasted with a loss of $206 million, or 32 cents, a year earlier, the Houston-based company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Revenue fell 22% to $1.21 billion.

* El Paso Corp., owner of the largest U.S. network of interstate natural-gas pipelines, said a court in Arizona approved a settlement with the state over litigation stemming from the Western energy crisis in 2000 and 2001. As part of the settlement, El Paso will provide grants totaling $3.4 million for programs in the state. * Gartner Inc., which sells technology industry research, agreed to buy Meta Group Inc. for $162 million to add to its research capabilities and sales staff.

El Paso Corp., the largest U.S. pipeline company, reported a 2003 loss of $1.93 billion and restated 2001 and 2002 earnings lower by $826 million after an audit stemming from overstatements of energy reserves. Last year's net loss was $1.03 a share, compared with a restated 2002 loss of $1.75 billion, or $2.38 a share, Houston-based El Paso said in a public filing. The company previously reported a 2002 loss of $1.47 billion.

* El Paso Energy Partners, a publicly traded partnership controlled by El Paso Corp., said third-quarter net income almost doubled to $23.8 million, or 21 cents a unit, after the purchase of natural gas pipelines. Revenue almost tripled to $122.3 million.

Natural gas pipeline operator El Paso Corp. said the Securities and Exchange Commission had launched an investigation into its deep cut in natural gas reserves. El Paso President and Chief Executive Doug Foshee said the company was cooperating fully with the probe and would comply with the SEC's subpoenas for records. Investors appeared to shrug off the news. El Paso rose 8 cents to $6.79 on the New York Stock Exchange.

As many as 10 former El Paso Corp. traders and supervisors could face charges of manipulating natural gas prices as the scope of a grand jury investigation into the matter expands, sources close to the case said Wednesday. The U.S.