Enron International

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Enron International or EI as it was known inside of Enron was Enron's emerging markets business unit, and unlike other business units of Enron has strong cash flows on the bankruptcyfiling. Enron International consisted of all of Enron's foreign power projects including ones in Europe.

[edit] Projects

EI constructed a lot of power plants and pipelines all across the globe. Some today are still up and running including the massive Teeside plant in England. Others like a barge mounted plant off Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic cost Enron loads of money through law suits and investment losses. Puerto Plata was a barge mouted power plant next to a hotel called Hotelero del Atlantico. When the plant was fired up winds blew soot from the plant onto the hotel guest's meals, blackening their food. The winds also blew garbage from nearby slums in the plant's water-intake system. For sometime the only solution was to hire men who would row out and push the garbage away with their paddles. For Enron, the deal was a complete waste of money through mid-2000 the company collected a paltry $3.5 million from it $95 million investment. Other projects considered investments in Europe, South America, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico, Jamica, and across the Caribbean.

[edit] India

No one country is Enron known most for than India. Around 1992 India came to the United States to find energy investors to help India with its energy shortage problems. Many countries were wary of doing business with India, Enron was not. December 1993, Enron inked a 20-year power-purchase contract with the Maharashtra State Electricity Board. The contract allowed Enron to construct a massive 2,015 megawatt power plant. Construction would be completed in two phases and Enron would form its own power company to help manage the plant the Dabhol Power Company. The power project was the first step in a grade $20 billion dollar scheme to help rebuild and stabilize India's power grid. Built by Enron, GE who was selling turbines to the project, and Bechtel who was building the plant, each put up 10 percent equity. The plant was to be constructed in two phases. Phase one would burn a fuel called naphtha, a fuel similar to kerosene and gasoline. Phase one would produce 740 megawatts and help stabilize the local transmission grid. Phase two would burn Liquified Natural Gas, or LNG. The LNG Infrastructure associated with the LNG Terminal at Dabhol was going to cost around $1 billion. In March 1995, the ruling Congress Party in Maharashtra lost to a Hindu nationalist coalition that had campaigned on an anti-foreign investment platform. In May, hundreds of protesting villagers swarmed over the site, and a riot broke out. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International eventually charged security forces for guarding Dabhold for Enron with human-rights abuses; Human Rights Watch blamed Enron for being complicit. On August 3, the Maharashtra ordered the project to be halted because of lack of transparency, alleged padded costs, and environmental hazards. Construction ground to a halt; by then Enron had invested some $300 million into the project. Over the next year Enron reviewed its options. On February 23, 1996, Maharashtra and Enron announced a new agreement. Enron cut the price of the power by over 20 percent, cut total capital costs from $2.8 billion to $2.5 billion, and increased Dabhol's size from 2,015 megawatts to 2,184 megawatts. And both parties committed formally to develop the second phase. The first phase went online May 1999, almost two years behind schedule, and construction was started on phase 2. Costs would now ultimately climb to $3 billion. Then everything came to halt. The MSEB refused to pay for all the power, and it became clear that getting the government to honor the guantees would not be an easy task. Although Maharashtra still suffers from blackouts, it says it does not need and cannot afford Dabhol's power. And India's energy sector still loses roughly $5 billion a year. Today, Dabhol, in which Enron invested some $900 million, sits silent, a gigantic, wasted marvel of modern technology.

Addendum; This plant was taken over by Ratnagiri Gas and Power Private limited in July 2005 and is expected to commence production in all its three phases from April 2007 using imported LNG from Qatar. Refer http://www.rgppl.com for more info

[edit] Project Summer

During the summer of 2001 Enron was making an attempt to sell a lot of Enron International's assets, many of which were not sold. It is still unclear why Enron wanted to sell all of these assets. Most suspect it was due to the fact that Enron was in need of cash.