Arena

The new merchant gas and power companies, getting battered in the public arena as they move into new operating areas across the country, are going to have to heavy-up their public relations operations to ward off reactive laws and regulations restricting the competitive market.

The new merchant gas and power companies, getting battered in the public arena as they move into new operating areas across the country, are going to have to heavy-up their public relations operations to ward off reactive laws and regulations restricting the competitive market.

Altra has thrown in the towel in the electronic natural gas trading arena. Last winter’s high gas prices, competition from IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), TradeSpark and other electronic trading systems, and skyrocketing credit insurance costs since Enron’s downfall will force the company to shut down its electronic natural gas trading system at the end of this month, said Altra President Dixie Barrett Paden.

Altra has finally thrown in the towel in the electronic natural gas trading arena. Overwhelming competition over the past few years from a number of different systems, some of which also have been forced out of the business, pressured Altra to announce it will shut down the Altrade system on March 31. All natural gas trades and transactions in the system will continue as scheduled until that date, the company told customers in a letter last week.

Few can deny that the two biggest factors influencing prices inthe volatile natural gas futures arena are storage and weather.Accordingly, a combination of record cold temperatures andlarger-than-expected storage withdrawals through November andDecember caused natural gas prices to more than double, leavingregulators stunned and sending buyer to the poor house. And whileit is doubtful that natural gas prices will return the ol’two-dollar days anytime soon, the futures market did take solid ahit yesterday and yes, storage and weather were to blame.

California’s governor met with President Clinton in the WhiteHouse Wednesday and came away with an extension of the federalenergy secretary’s emergency order for another week, assuring thestate it can count on extra electricity supplies when needed. Thestate’s independent grid operator indicated it has been receivingabout 300 MW of power under the emergency mandate over the past twoweeks.

Shell Energy Services Co. LLC, the third largest natural gas marketer in Georgia, hopes to extend its success in the residential arena to the large commercial and industrial market in the state with several new product offerings and a new website, www.shellenergyconnect.com.

Shell Energy Services Co. LLC, the third largest natural gasmarketer in Georgia, hopes to extend its success in the residentialarena to the large commercial and industrial market in the statewith several new product offerings and a new web site,www.shellenergyconnect.com.

Marking an evolution from a gas supply and storage partnershipforged last year, Peoples Energy Corp. and Enron North AmericaCorp. (ENA) announced plans last week to move into the Chicagopower generation market. The two companies said the jointly plan tocreate a Chicago portfolio of at least 800 MW.