Business news in brief

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

— QUOTE OF THE DAY

“The bigger issue is that the weak global economy has been taking its toll on exports.” Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics, on a rise in the U.S. trade deficit in October according to the U.S. Commerce Department even as U.S. imports dropped Article,1D

Entergy names chief nuclear officer

New Orleans-based Entergy Corp. has named Jeff Forbes, 56, as executive vice president for nuclear operations and chief nuclear officer at Entergy Nuclear, effective Jan 2.

Forbes is now senior vice president of nuclear operations for Entergy Nuclear. He will replace John Herron, who has announced he will retire March 31.

Forbes and Herron will work together until Herron’s retirement date to ensure a smooth transition for Entergy Nuclear, the company said in a news release Tuesday.

Forbes will report to Mark Savoff, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Entergy Corp.

Forbes has served as senior vice president of nuclear operations at Entergy Nuclear since August 2011, overseeing the daily operations of Entergy’s 11 nuclear units, including two units near Russellville.

Battery maker gains asset-sale OK

WILMINGTON, Del. - A Delaware bankruptcy judge on Tuesday approved the sale of most of the assets of failed battery maker A123 Systems Inc. to the U.S. arm of Chinese auto parts conglomerate Wanxiang Group Corp.

for nearly $257 million.

In asking Judge Kevin Carey to approve the sale, attorneys for A123 noted that the winning bid submitted by Wanxiang America Corp. last week was more than double an initial $125 million offer for the company’s automotive battery unit by Milwaukee-based auto parts marker Johnson Controls Inc.

Even though A123’s defense-related business assets will be sold separately for $2.25 million to Navitas Systems, of Woodridge, Ill., Wanxiang’s purchase still requires approval by the Committee for Foreign Investment in the United States, a federal interagency committee that reviews sales of U.S. companies to foreign owners.

Waltham, Mass.-based A123, which makes lithium ion batteries for electric cars, grid storage and commercial and military applications, sought bankruptcy protection in October, three years after being awarded a $249 million Department of Energy grant.

HOUSTON - A Texas judge has temporarily stopped the oil company TransCanada from building a pipeline designed to carry tar sands oil from Canada through eastern portions of the state to the Gulf Coast.

The decision came after Michael Bishop, 64, a retired paramedic and chemist in East Texas, filed a lawsuit arguing that TransCanada lied to him and other landowners, promising that the Keystone XL pipeline would transport crude oil, not tar sands oil.

“What they’re calling tar sands oil is not oil by anyone’s definition,” Bishop told the Los Angeles Times, adding that he’s worried the pipeline’s proposed contents might contaminate his land. “I’m very concerned about a leak. They need to pull the permit, go back and re-register this on the federal level as a hazardous-material pipeline and see if they can get it permitted then.”

Texas County Court at Law Judge Jack Sinz signed the temporary restraining order and injunction against TransCanada on Friday, finding sufficient cause to stop work on the pipeline for two weeks. The injunction went into effect Tuesday, and the next hearing in the case is set for Thursday, court staff said.

Shawn Howard, a spokesman for TransCanada, said that courts have already ruled that tar sands oil is a form of crude oil.

U.S. profit in AIG tops $22.7 billion

American International Group Inc.’s rescue has come to an end with the United States raising $7.6 billion in its final offering of the insurer’s shares, four years after a bailout that generated resentment against Wall Street.

The Treasury Department is selling 234.2 million shares at $32.50 each in the sixth offering since the 2008 rescue.

The proceeds boost the U.S. profit on the rescue that began in 2008 to $22.7 billion, according to a statement Tuesday from the Treasury, which injected capital through the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The U.S. took over the New York-based company in a 2008 bailout that swelled to $182.3 billion to save the global economy from collapse. AIG has sold more than $65 billion in assets to help repay the rescue.

More U.S. jobs advertised in October

WASHINGTON - U.S. employers advertised more jobs in October than September, a hopeful sign that hiring could pick up in the coming months.

The Labor Department said Tuesday that job openings rose by 128,000 to 3.68 million. That’s the most since June.

The number of available jobs is slowly climbing back to the roughly 4 million that were advertised each month before the recession began in December 2007.

With nearly 12.3 million people unemployed in October, there were 3.3 unemployed people, on average, competing for each open job. That’s the lowest ratio since November 2008.

Still, in a healthy economy, the ratio is roughly 2 to 1.

In one positive sign, the number of available construction jobs jumped to 130,000, from 82,000 in September. That’s the most in more than four years.

Job openings also rose in manufacturing, retail, and hotels and restaurants, professional and business services.

Spectra to buy 1,700-mile pipeline

HOUSTON - Pipeline operator Spectra Energy Corp.

said Tuesday that it’s buying the 1,700-mile Express-Platte pipeline system for $1.25 billion in cash to build its oil transportation network.

Spectra is buying the pipeline system, which runs from Canada to Illinois, from pipeline company Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Borealis Infrastructure, the infrastructure investment arm of another Canadian pension fund, OMERS. The agreement also includes the assumption of $240 million in debt.

The deal comes with an increase in U.S. oil production and follows several large North American energy deals.

Monthly crude production reached its highest level since 1998 in September, according to the Energy Department.

The Express pipeline has a capacity of 280,000 barrels a day, while the Platte pipeline’s capacity ranges from 145,000 to 164,000 barrels a day.

Business, Pages 26 on 12/12/2012