Busy

While a significant portion of the industry was busy extending the Independence Day holiday, August natural gas futures on Thursday quietly worked downward yet again, recording a low of $6.560 before closing out the day at $6.618, down 13.6 cents from Tuesday’s close.

Adding to the chorus of forecasters calling for a busy Atlantic hurricane season, experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Climate Prediction Center said last Tuesday that they are projecting a 75% chance that the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season will be above normal, while WSI Corp. agreed — showing the ongoing active hurricane era remains strong despite the “aberration” that was the 2006 season.

Adding to the chorus of forecasters calling for a busy Atlantic hurricane season, experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Climate Prediction Center said Tuesday they are projecting a 75% chance that the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season will be above normal, while WSI Corp. agreed — showing the ongoing active hurricane era remains strong despite the “aberration” that was the 2006 season.

Adding to a busy week for the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) that included new product offerings (see Daily GPI, Dec. 21) and accusations of merger interference (see Daily GPI, Dec. 22), as well as grumblings surrounding its scaled-down 2007 holiday schedule (see Daily GPI, Dec.21), the exchange reported Thursday that it will launch its first energy index futures contract, 3-2-1 Plus as part of the Nymex iPort suite of index futures contracts beginning on Jan. 21 for trade date Jan. 22.

Electronic energy marketplace IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) continued its busy week Wednesday in announcing that it has licensed office space at 2 World Financial Center in the downtown financial district of New York City. The company said the offices will serve as a “state-of-the-art” electronic trading center that will provide access to ICE’s electronic markets as well as host training and marketing activities.

Stopping to catch its breath following a busy summer on the acquisition and divestiture front, The Woodlands, TX-based Anadarko Petroleum Corp. said last week it is well on its way to restoring its balance sheet while putting in place permanent financing for its August acquisitions of Kerr-McGee Corp. and Western Gas Resources Inc. Following the announcement two weeks ago that it is selling its Canadian subsidiary, the company added that it is also eyeing further divestitures.

Stopping to catch its breath following a busy summer on the acquisition and divestiture front, The Woodlands, TX-based Anadarko Petroleum Corp. said Tuesday it is well on its way to restoring its balance sheet while putting in place permanent financing for its August 2006 acquisitions of Kerr-McGee Corp. and Western Gas Resources Inc. Following the announcement last week that it is selling its Canadian subsidiary, the company added that it is also eyeing further divestitures.

Softer natural gas prices are eroding Canadian well numbers, but western drilling rigs are staying busy as the industry switches to targets requiring more work including deep supplies to bank for future use.

Softer natural gas prices are eroding Canadian well numbers, but western drilling rigs are staying busy as the industry switches to targets requiring more work including deep supplies to bank for future use.