Basking

Reporting strong first-quarter results from its multi-state utility operations, Xcel Energy is basking in an era of “constructive regulation,” said CFO Ben Fowke, who reported increased first-quarter-over-quarter earnings Thursday during a conference call with financial analysts. Xcel had “solid” results, Fowke said, despite experiencing an overall revenue drop in the first quarter of more than $300 million, compared to the same period in 2008.

March natural gas futures recorded a third straight day of gains Wednesday despite the fact that New York City was basking in 58-degree weather on the sixth day of February. However, they don’t call it the “futures” market for nothing. Temperatures later in February continued to look colder than first expected, helping to drive the prompt-month contract to a high of $8.070 before closing out at $7.994, up 5.2 cents from Tuesday’s close.

Basking in a series of financial successes, Sempra Energy COO Donald Felsinger said his company cashed in on the big bet it made five years ago on natural gas strategy. Speaking Monday at Bank of America’s annual investment conference in San Francisco, Felsinger said Sempra correctly projected that North American production reached its peak and then it invested accordingly in liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, pipelines and storage.