New Orleans Energy Briefs: January 28, 2008

By Bahr, Emilie

Entergy Louisiana has signed a definitive agreement with Baton Rouge-based Shaw Group to upgrade Entergy Louisiana’s Little Gypsy station in St. Charles Parish. The value of the contract was not disclosed.

Shaw will replace a natural gas-fired boiler with two new circulating fluidized bed boilers to supply steam to a turbine generator at Little Gypsy 3. The new facility is expected to be completed early in 2012.

“At its peak, this project will create more than 1,500 new and good-paying jobs but also will rely on a number of local products and services, which extends the benefits of the Little Gypsy 3 project to many other businesses and families in Louisiana,” said J.M. Bernhard Jr., Shaw chairman, president and CEO.

Using petroleum coke, Entergy will burn the fuel in a bed of limestone suspended in a column of rapidly moving air. The limestone absorbs the sulfur released from the petroleum coke, which generates steam to power the steam turbine generator.

Taylor Energy still on sales block

Taylor Energy has attracted prospective buyers, according to the company responsible for selling the New Orleans-based energy company.

Taylor, the largest privately held oil and gas company in the Gulf of Mexico, was placed on the market in August.

The company, headquartered at 1615 Poydras St., retained Scotia Waterous USA of Houston to assist with the sale.

“We are still running our process and have a number of prospective buyers,” Scotia Managing Director Adrian Goodisman said.

Industry observers said Taylor could attract top dollar thanks to high energy prices.

Richard Tullis, an analyst with Capital One Southcoast, estimated Taylor’s value near $1 billion in August based on recent energy company sales and Taylor’s production rate of 18,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Briggs projects Gulf drilling in Florida future

Don Briggs, president of the Baton Rouge-based Louisiana Oil and Gas Association, predicts the eastern Gulf of Mexico, long off- limits to energy exploration, will open to drilling in the next few years.

“The world’s supply is depleting and gasoline and oil prices are going to continue to rise,” Briggs said. “And people will start really getting hurt by it and they’re going to have to open up the Gulf of Mexico on the eastern side.”

Briggs said seismic tests show “immense” hydrocarbon reserves off the coast of Florida. “When oil gets to $150 and people are paying $4 for a gallon of gas, people aren’t going to (care)” about Florida’s aversion to drilling off its coast.

“That’s going to change a lot of attitudes,” he said. “The eastern Gulf is going to eventually open up.”

Should that happen, Briggs said, Louisiana stands to benefit.

“We’re the heartbeat of the entire country,” he said. “We have all the pipelines. … We have 19 refineries,” and myriad offshore service companies. “The infrastructure that we have working in the central and western Gulf will be doing the same thing in the eastern Gulf.”

Green power gains Entergy, City Council OK

Entergy New Orleans and the New Orleans City Council have reviewed a power program to offer clean, renewable power to electricity customers.

Entergy’s proposal would allow customers to voluntarily subscribe to renewable energy sources such as hydroelectric, geothermal, wind, solar and biomass in return for a monthly premium to cover program costs. If approved by the City Council, the program could launch by the summer.

“The availability of green power will give customers who are concerned about the environment a greater choice of products and a way to voice their support for renewable energy,” Entergy President and CEO Rod West said. “Customers can benefit by personally reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that they generate by purchasing green power.”

Under the plan, customers in all rate classes who sign up for green power would buy renewable energy credits through ENO in blocks of power. A renewable energy credit represents one block of energy generated by a third-party renewable fuel source, purchased by ENO and sold to customers. Each used block of clean, renewable electricity results in one less used block of traditional fossil fuel-generated power.

The premium would appear as a separate line item on monthly bills of participating customers. The green power charge is in addition to base charges and the fuel adjustment clause for electricity.

Credit: Emilie Bahr

(Copyright 2008 Dolan Media Newswires)

(c) 2008 New Orleans CityBusiness. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.