Although still very much intact, the uptrend which has carriedprices higher for much of the year suffered a defeat yesterday, astraders liquidated positions on the open to create a potentiallybearish technical scenario. The January contract took the sell-offsquarely on the chin, tumbling $1.00 lower to evoke a lock-limitdown trading halt at about 10:15 a.m. (ET) Tuesday. Afterre-opening 15 minutes later with new two-dollar limits in eitherdirection, the market continued lower to finish at $8.145, down$1.268 for the session.
Carried
Articles from Carried
Agricultural Interests Urge Cal-PX Changes
California’s rural counties representing powerful water andagricultural interests that have always carried a lot of clout instate political arenas have stepped into the ongoing electricitypublic debate advocating changes in the auction process in thestate-run wholesale spot power market.
Transportation:
Pacific Gas & Electric had a systemwide high-inventory OFOin effect Monday but did not extend it through today. The Stage 2order carried penalties of $1/Dth for positive daily imbalancesexceeding a tolerance of 1%.
Prices Ratchet Down, But Maintain an Edge
The softening that had begun in late trading Monday carried overto Tuesday’s activity, but the path back down wasn’t as steep asthe climb up.
Transportation Notes
Citing “significant demand” in its market area, Florida GasTransmission issued an Overage Alert Day notice Wednesday. Thenotice carried a 2% tolerance for negative daily imbalances. FGTsaid it was unable to accommodate any market-area increases east ofStation 12 (Santa Rosa County, FL). System conditions will bere-evaluated at 7 a.m. CDT today to determine whether the noticeshould be extended.
Cash Downturn Was Not Hard to See in Advance
As presaged Tuesday by late retrenchment in cash quotes and ascreen drop that carried over into Access trading, the cash marketwas in full retreat Wednesday. All points were off by at least anickel or so, and most of the decreases were around a dime. In whatwas described often as quiet trading, the softening Henry Hubfutures contract for June was the only significant influence oncash that sources could cite.
Ocean Energy Divests $116 M of Assets to Reduce Debt
Ocean Energy Inc. (OEI) announced two separate sales worth acombined $116 million and 164 Bcf of gas last week, as it carriedout a debt reduction plan aimed at preparing the company for itsmerger with Seagull Energy. OEI said shareholders for bothcompanies are holding special meetings March 30 to vote on themerger. If they vote in favor, the company will be officiallymerged that afternoon.
Only Canadian Points Escape General Downturn
The cash market was back on a downhill slide Wednesday as theuprising that had carried some points as much as 80-90 cents higherin the first two days of the week ran out of gas. The retrenchmentwas not unexpected because futures were falling for the second dayin a row and the colder weather that had driven the earlier uptickswas giving way to new forecasts calling for no colder than “normal”temperatures in many areas.
Late Bidweek Softness Continues Into Aftermarket
The softening trend that developed about halfway through bidweekcarried over to the fledgling August aftermarket. In swing dealsdone Friday for the weekend, quotes at nearly all points were downseveral cents from index levels and often near the bottom end ofbidweek ranges.
Price Upticks Recover Tuesday’s Lost Ground
Despite Tuesday’s overall price losses, the rising trend astrading progressed carried over into Wednesday and resulted inmoderate to strong rebounds. Increases mostly were in the range of5-10 cents and tended to cancel out the Tuesday declines.