Jeff, On Saturday, September 29th, I am being honored with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's Hope Award during their annual Maxine Mesinger Dinner of Champions event. This award is beinggiven to me due to the hard work and dedication that BMC Software employees have shown this great cause through the years. I understand that you were the recipient of this award last year, so you know that the key to a successful event is the selection of the dinner committee, which is then used to build the invitation list and to build excitement for attending the event from local leaders. Of course, the key to successfully developing the dinner committee is the selection of the Chairman of the committee. I would be honored if you would agree to serve as the Chairman of the dinner committee. You were the first name that came to mind and the best person I could hope for to assure a successful event. I am told that your personal time commitment would be very minimal. It would require your attendance at the dinner event on September 29th in downtown Houston. The dinner is typically from 7:00pm until 10:00pm,but the actual ceremony is less than 30 minutes long with some brief comments by you and then an acceptance speech given by yours truly. The primary obligation beyond attending the event would be to allow us to use your name and signature in sending out the invitations to the dinner committee members. I would provide you with a recommended invitation list. The MS team would make sure that your time and image would be well respected. Thank you Jeff,
Answer: MS Society Opportunity
Reviewed by Mark Williams, SVP Risk Management, Citizens Power The long awaited second edition of Managing Energy Price Risk has finally arrived. It has been four years since the first edition was published. During this hiatus, a lot has happened as risk management within the rapidly expanding energy industry has come of age as a respected discipline. The second edition is a rich compilation of papers by a surprisingly representative group of industry leaders, practitioners and academics. The books strength is that it reinforces the fact that risk management principles initially applied to a narrow band of energy commodities can and should be applied across a wide array of energy commodities including electricity. As expected the book does a solid job in capturing an international perspective on the various challenges, which are not isolated to any one continent but are global in scope. It includes a lengthy introduction that effectively frames risk management progress, advancements and innovations that started in the oil markets in the 1970's and migrated to the natural gas and most recently expanding to the electricity industry. Managing Energy Price Risk is comprised of 15 chapters, all of which include an introduction, which minimises the disjointedness that you may expect from a book written by a large number of authors. Other improvements in this second edition include expanded graphics, highlighted panels, detailed appendices and a separate glossary, which provides the reader with additional reference material. In particular the chapter on energy options written by Michael Hampton is a useful primer and provides the reader with a concise explanation of option theory, pricing, basis risk, delta hedging as well as practical guidelines for distinguishing between hedging and pure speculation. For the more advanced reader, the chapter on Energy Exotic Options, written by Vince Kaminski, Stinson Gibner and Krishnarao Pinnamaneni is particularly strong as it outlines the challenges associated with the exotics and effectively documents the latest methods used by leading practitioners in pricing such instruments. Additionally, the chapter on Accounting for Derivative Contracts in the Energy Environment by three consultants from Arthur Anderson, is a well written summary which addresses the numerous tax related issues including a timely discussion on the US Financial Accounting Standards Board's Statement 133 (see EPRM October 1999, page 22). Having this tax information housed in one concise chapter is of great value. The second edition however is not without flaws. In particular, it would have been useful to have more information on the current challenges risk managers are confronted with in the power industry including latest advancements in volatility and correlation estimation techniques. Additional attention could have also been placed on the shortcomings of the current market structure and methods in finding and applying appropriate hedging strategies and instruments. In the fledgling power market, this continues to be one of the primary challenges. In summary, this second edition of Managing Energy Price Risk builds upon the sentinel work laid out in the prior edition and is a valuable reference book for the new recruit or seasoned veteran. It is a welcome edition to any risk management library.
Answer: Book review
Mary/Cheryl: Carol has seven (7) master swap agreements to be reassigned. Cheryl and I will work on these together. All appear on the legal/credit list. (1) Cross Timbers Oil Company (2) Camden Property Trust (3) Clorox Company (The) (4) Montana Power Comopany (The) (5) Ocean Energy, Inc. (6) Quebecor World USA, Inc. (7) Russel Metals Inc. Mary: Would you please reassign paralegals to Cross Timbers and Quebecor? These were handled by Samantha. Maybe Marie could assist; these don't appear to be urgent. Thanks.
Answer: Reassignment of ISDA Master Agreements
Real Time Traders, Morrow Power wants to take their unit to the market to get some run time before they begin selling Firm energy. So I'd like the Real Time group to sell the unit at the best price in the hourly market. I've already bought gas for Friday and Saturday operations. I expect Sunday to be weak to not run the unit on Sunday. I would expect to be back in the market on Monday. To sell the unit buy a BPA wheel using the accounts on the scheduling sheet. The variable price at the bottom is actual breakeven price. To start the unit call PGE at the control room number and give them an hour to get the unit online before you sell. It takes 46 minutes to get the unit from cold start to full load and online. Also, I've bought reserves from BPA to make these schedules firm for the hour. I'll be out this afternoon and tomorrow and Stan will be standing in for me. I'll be available on my cell phone for any questions. Les
Answer:
Morrow Power