Capping

Capping off a year-long probe into Arthur Andersen’s role in the collapse of Enron Corp., the House Energy and Commerce Committee Tuesday referred criminal charges to the Justice Department against the former Enron auditor’s in-house counsel, Nancy Temple, for allegedly lying last January to a congressional panel that was investigating the shredding of Enron documents.

Capping a tumultuous tenure as prompt month, the October contract went out with bang Thursday as two distinct waves of buying were more than sellers could handle. After ratcheting higher throughout the late morning following the news that 67 Bcf worth of gas was injected into storage last week, the prompt month dove lower in the afternoon. But just when it looked as if October would drop below the critical $3.50 mark, market-on-close buyers stepped in. That support, combined with an absence of willing sellers, sent prices through the roof in the last 30 minutes of trading. October settled at $3.686, up 19.2 cents for the session and 26.6 cents above where it was when it took over as prompt contract at Nymex a month ago.

Capping a week that bull traders would like to pretend never happened, natural gas futures continued to fall Friday as sellers continued to methodically and justifiably extend their short holdings and pressure prices lower. After gapping lower following the holiday weekend, the February contract never looked back as it etched a new life-of-contract low in each session last week and sunk to a new four-month prompt contract low at $1.99. February closed at $2.037 Friday, down only 1.1 cents for the day but off a hefty 19.9 cents for the week.

Capping a week that featured a face-to-face meeting between President George W. Bush and California Gov. Gray Davis in which the president delivered a public and unmistakable ‘no’ to price caps as a way out of the western energy crisis, the Cal-ISO, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) filed — under protest — their plan to form a single, state regional transmission organization (RTO).

Capping off a week in which California took center stage, the state-wide independent system operator (Cal-ISO), Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) Friday filed — under protest — their plan to form a single-state regional transmission organization (RTO).

Capping a 12-day, 45% price increase, natural gas futures reversed lower yesterday as traders locked in profits amid technical and fundamental price uncertainty. The December contract took the sell-off squarely on the chin, dropping 46.7 cents or 7.5% to close at $5.798. The out months also felt the sting as the winter strip (Dec.-Mar.) tumbled 37.8 cents to $5.537 and the 12-month strip retraced 29.9 cents to $4.821.

FERC last week broadened the bid-cap authority of the NewEngland Independent System Operator (ISO) to the chagrin of largepower marketers and utilities operating within the New EnglandPower Pool (NEPOOL).

Capping a two-year battle for its controversial MarketLink project, designed to expand its system to deliver new supplies to the Northeast, Williams’ Transco pipeline has scaled back its ambitious schedule, filing to phase in construction through 2004.

Bills passed last week by the California legislature capping rates for small and medium-sized San Diego Gas & Electric customers through 2003 and speeding up siting of new power plants were the latest in a two-week series of events aimed at rescuing the state from its power market crisis.