Approaching

For the third day in a row, flat pricing dominated the cash market Thursday. A bit of approaching moderation of winter weather in the Northeast was approximately balanced by the previous day’s strength throughout Nymex’s energy futures group.

Expectations for adequate natural gas storage supplies and the approaching seasonal drop in crude demand will likely lead to a decline in both commodities and the exploration and production (E&P) stocks in the near term, but the outlook long term remains positive, according to analysts with RBC Capital Markets.

Expectations for adequate natural gas storage supplies and the approaching seasonal drop in crude demand will likely lead to a decline in both commodities and the exploration and production (E&P) stocks in the near term, but the outlook long term remains positive, according to analysts with RBC Capital Markets.

New bouts of harsh winter weather approaching after a brief respite, the end of a holiday weekend slump in industrial load, suspicions of a large storage withdrawal to be reported Thursday, and sharp spikes in the energy futures complex (especially among the petroleum-based products) all combined to generate large rebounds at nearly all points Tuesday.

It was mild, but a rally nonetheless. With a new spate of cold weather approaching the Midwest and Northeast, prices ranged from flat to up about 15 cents Tuesday. Not counting the Southwest basins, the West saw most of the flat to barely higher or lower numbers.

News of a tropical wave approaching the Caribbean Sea, generally warm to hot weather in most of the nation, the end of weekend OFOs on several pipes and the usual rebound in load following a long weekend were cited by sources in explaining Monday’s double-digit gains at nearly all points.

Buoyed by a flow date that several sources expect to be the coldest yet in the East this winter, an approaching return of severe weather in the South, and a strong screen rebound, cash prices recorded across-the-board increases Wednesday.

With its known Alaska oil and natural gas reserves approaching 7 billion boe — its largest single source in its global portfolio, BP plc will be a major player on the North Slope for at least 40 years and most likely, longer, the company’s Alaska chief affirmed this week.

Xcel Energy subsidiary NRG Energy is fast approaching the basement of junk bond ratings levels. Standard & Poor’s (S&P) lowered its credit ratings to CCC from B-plus last Thursday due to NRG’s urgent need to sell off a massive number of power generation assets in order to meet a $1.3 billion collateral payment deadline of Sept. 13 or convince lenders it will be able to make the payments soon. S&P also lowered its credit rating on NRG Northeast Generating LLC’s bonds and NRG South Central Generating LLC’s bonds to CCC.