Abundance

Price volatility and an abundance of energy trading talent — available since the collapse of Enron Corp., et al, — have revitalized the merchant energy sector and created a booming opportunity for speculative hedge fund trading, several financial consultants said Thursday.

Price volatility and an abundance of energy trading talent — available since the collapse of Enron Corp., et al, — have revitalized the merchant energy sector and created a booming opportunity for speculative hedge fund trading, several financial consultants said Thursday.

Fueled by the abundance of liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal proposals in the northwest corner of Mexico, the North Baja Pipeline reported Thursday that its six-month open season for expanded future capacity drew interest totaling about 5.5 Bcf/d. The current pipeline running from the Arizona-California border through the northern end of Baja California Norte is fully subscribed for its 500 MMcf/d capacity.

Fueled by the abundance of liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal proposals in the northwest corner of Mexico, the North Baja Pipeline reported Thursday that its six-month open season for expanded future capacity drew interest totaling about 5.5 Bcf/d. The current pipeline running from the Arizona-California border through the northern end of Baja is fully subscribed for its 500 MMcf/d capacity.

The abundance of new gas-fired power generation added to the North American electric grid will ensure that there is adequate power supply this summer and through 2011, according to the 2003 Summer Assessment by the North American Electricity Reliability Council (NERC). However, there remain several areas of concern in the near-term, including Southern Connecticut, New York City and Long Island.

With the over-abundance of proposed new natural gas power plants, calls for for more distributed generation and renewed interest in coal and nuclear generating plants emerged last week among various energy industry experts and firms bidding to fill developing niche markets.

Strong domestic gas prices and an abundance of liquefied naturalgas on the spot market mean more LNG will be flowing to the UnitedStates. In the second LNG purchase announced this week, CMSMarketing, Services and Trading, bought seven additional cargoesfrom Qatar Liquefied Gas (Qatargas).

While the abundance of gas now in storage has analystspredicting soft prices in the coming months, others suggest thecharacter of storage operations will be changing as more and moremarketers take title to storage capacity from LDCs. Storage held bylocal distribution companies and power generators typically hasbeen used to ensure supply. Marketers holding storage or optimizingstorage assets under contract with LDCs see storage as a financialopportunity in addition to a supply insurance policy. Thearbitrageurs will handle their storage differently when suppliesget tight, said Pete Kinsella, Columbia Gas Transmission vicepresident of marketing and volume management.