Advance

The reaction was loud, long and predictable — and in fact most was probably written well in advance of yesterday’s unveiling. While the energy industry — from natural gas interests, to coal to nuclear power — hailed the Bush energy plan for its long-overdue focus on developing the nation’s energy resources and infrastructure, environmentalists bashed it as a bunch of dirty words aimed at derailing the movement to reduce pollution and preserve the environment.

The reaction was loud, long and predictable — and in fact most was probably written well in advance of yesterday’s unveiling. While the energy industry — from natural gas interests, to coal to nuclear power — hailed the Bush energy plan for its long-overdue focus on developing the nation’s energy resources and infrastructure, environmentalists bashed it as a bunch of dirty words aimed at derailing the movement to reduce pollution and preserve the environment.

FERC last week held firm to its July order in which it awarded amuch-sought-after certificate to the controversial IndependencePipeline, rejecting numerous requests to reconsider whether theproject’s precedent agreements were binding and its market needjustified. Federal regulators also gave the go-ahead for Phase IIof ANR Pipeline’s Wisconsin expansion, a Reliant Energy GasTransmission looping expansion in Arkansas, and accorded apreliminary determination to Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line for itsproposed Sundance expansion in the Southeast.

FERC had a very busy day yesterday on the natural gas side.First, it upheld its July order in which it awarded a certificateto the Midwest-to-East Coast Independence Pipeline, fending offcontinuing questions about the binding nature of the project’sprecedent agreements and its market need. Federal regulators alsogave the go-ahead for Phase II of ANR Pipeline’s Wisconsinexpansion, a Reliant Energy Gas Transmission expansion in Arkansas,and awarded a preliminary determination to Transcontinental GasPipe Line for its proposed Sundance expansion in the Southeast.

Cash prices continued to advance Wednesday with the West onceagain leading the procession, and there was no hint of a setback insight as the screen rose above $5 for October and reported storageinjections remained below par. Crude oil futures also were verystrong, with the October contract settling a dime short of $35/bbl.

The cash market used Friday’s futures advance, along withexpectations of hotter weather this week, as a springboard toachieve across-the-board gains in double digits Monday.

After suffering a 9-cent setback late Wednesday afternoon,natural gas futures held their ground Thursday as traders electedto play it safe ahead of the holiday weekend. The May contractchecked to either side of unchanged, but ultimately finished inpositive territory, up 1.8 cents at $3.073. A narrow 4-cent tradingrange and a modest 54,989 in estimated volume were evidence of thequiet trade Thursday.

Cash traders in markets outside the West, taking encouragementfrom patches of cold weather (both existing and predicted) and ascreen that briefly tested the waters above $3 Friday morning,pushed weekend prices higher by about a nickel in the Gulf Coastand Midcontinent/Midwest to more than a dime in the Northeast.

With little in the way of fresh news, natural gas futures limpedmostly sideways yesterday as cautious summer bulls matched upnearly perfectly with March bears. In fact, the only notablefeature in Thursday’s session was a rash of market-on-close buying,which firmed prices at the end. The March contract advanced 1.9cents to finish at $2.549 on its penultimate trading day.