Body

El Paso Corp. strutted its stuff Tuesday, showing off the results of a total body makeover that turned the once bloated and debt-ridden company into a buff earnings performer.

The bullish natural gas futures case suffered yet another bearish fundamental body blow on Thursday as the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that 110 Bcf was injected into underground storage for the week ended June 1. While July natural gas futures bulls put up a good fight in morning trade, the contract ended up dropping 25.5 cents Thursday to close at $7.825.

The Alaska Gas Line Port Authority (AGPA), a quasi governmental body that proposed an alternative in April to the Alaska Gas Pipeline planned by the big three gas producers — BP, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips — filed a new project offer last week that includes plans to strike a supply agreement only with the state for its royalty gas, leaving the major producers out of the process.

With a new combination of regulators this year on the elected five-member New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (PRC), a split among the group surfaced recently when two of the commissioners walked out of a closed session that resulted in the firing of two top PRC staff members. The chief of staff and administrative director were let go on 3-0 votes, and a new acting staff head was named from among existing staff.

The body count of lost energy traders and related support staff has climbed sharply in the past two weeks after Williams Cos. downsized its staff by another 210 employees, Reliant Resources Inc. cut close to 135, and Albuquerque-based PNM Resources Inc. eliminated 85 positions. The new cuts followed those by Houston’s UBS Warburg Energy, which fired 100 of its energy trading staff, and Duke Energy Corp. said it was considering reducing its 500-member trading force to “fit” the current conditions.

Southern Company opened its new energy trading floor in Atlantayesterday, establishing the electronic nerve center of thecompany’s growing body of North American assets.