Brainer

Subject to the economy and some legal factors, the need for added natural gas pipeline and storage capacity in the Pacific Northwest is a no-brainer; it is just a matter of when, not if, according to senior executives at Northwest Natural Gas Co., speaking on a second quarter earnings conference call Wednesday. Earnings increased quarter over quarter for the most recent period and were flat for the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2009.

As courtroom pundits saw it, Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay’s turn on the witness stand would be a no brainer. Well-known Houston philanthropist and Bush crony, many of Lay’s close associates and friends have called him a disarming, affable and somewhat avuncular sort of fellow, likely to remember small details about his employees’ personal lives and not prone to micromanaging the business. He was expected to be the calm and steady “nice” guy, unlike co-defendant and ex-Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling, whose brash personality has often preceded him.

It was a no-brainer to predict Thursday’s plunging market. Amajority of price losses were between 80 cents and a dollar, aschilly but seasonally mild weather prevailed in most areas, thescreen continued to go south and traders perceived AGA’s Wednesdayafternoon storage withdrawal report of 167 Bcf as a below-parvolume.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, cash prices plunged acrossthe board Tuesday. It was an easy call to make considering theresidual effect of Monday afternoon’s steep screen dive and warmingweather trends that are likely to get even warmer next week,sources said.