Burdened

Shares of debt-burdened Quicksilver Resources Inc. fell Monday after the company reported lower profits and said production would be flat this year. Meanwhile, efforts on two joint venture deals continue, as the company targets more liquids-rich production, executives told financial analysts.

November natural gas inched lower Friday as buying momentum from Thursday faded and traders continued to focus on a market burdened by a host of negative supply-demand factors. They suggested that prices could work nearly 40 cents lower from present levels. At the close November had drifted 0.1 cent lower to $3.629 and December had fallen 0.8 cent to $3.826. December crude oil gained $1.33 to $87.40/bbl.

After studying Kansas City-based Aquila Inc.’s finances exhaustively, the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) said last week that the debt-burdened company may have no other choice than to divest some or all of its domestic utilities in order to fix its balance sheet.

After studying Kansas City-based Aquila Inc.’s finances exhaustively, the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) said Tuesday the debt-burdened company may have no other choice than to divest some or all of its domestic utilities in order to fix its balance sheet.

Late-November swing prices got “crushed” Monday, burdened bothtechnically by a slumping futures screen and fundamentally by acontinuing surplus of unseasonably warm weather, a Texas-basedproducer lamented. Virtually all points dropped between a nickeland about 15 cents, with declines in the vicinity of a dime beingmost common.

The dire predictions that natural gas pipelines will be burdenedwith monstrous amounts of unsubscribed capacity as they enter thenew millennium don’t appear to be coming true. First Natural GasPipeline Co. of America reported it had sold out 99% of itstransportation capacity, and Tennessee Gas Pipeline announced lastweek it has sold out 80% of its 5.9 Bcf/d capacity for servicebeginning Nov. 1 of next year.

Retail gas marketers got some good and bad news from BaltimoreGas & Electric Co. yesterday. The bad news was transportationcustomers have to start paying the state’s 5% sales tax for thefirst time starting in May so alternative suppliers will have amuch tougher time beating the regulated gas sales price. Thecompliance division of the state Controller’s office informed BGEof the tax change in January.