Catch

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.

Taking a break from the large daily terading ranges of the last few weeks, traders used Tuesday’s session to catch their breath and regroup. After trading within a slim 16-cent range during Tuesday’s regular session, September natural gas ended up closing out the day at $6.861, down 5.2 cents from Monday.

Calpine Corp. and the independent power industry hope to catch their collective breath over the holiday week after the power plant poster child charts a new future in its $27 billion Chapter 11 bankruptcy in federal court in lower Manhattan, not far from Wall Street where it once basked in a Google-like aura in the late 1990s.

Top officials at the Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC) are voicing concerns over a recent run up in wholesale power prices in the state and, in particular, the electric wholesale market activities of TXU Corp.

The market paused to figuratively catch its breath with a mixed price performance Thursday following three days of climbing quotes in which the gains tended to get substantially larger each day. Various points ranged from almost 30 cents lower to a little more than 30 cents higher.

While August natural gas futures on Friday were unable to maintain Thursday’s rally, the prompt month was able to hold on to most of its gains. August closed down 1.8 cents at $6.134 while September futures dropped less than a penny to settle at $6.191.

While the outlook was rosier than it has been in more than three years, some of the 200-300 PG&E Corp. shareholders attending the corporate annual meeting Wednesday in San Francisco tossed some verbal grenades at CEO Robert Glynn for the company’s $83 million bonus program last year for 17 of the top executives, including Glynn himself, who pocketed the single biggest bonus at $17 million.

While the outlook was rosier than it has been in more than three years, some of the 200-300 PG&E Corp. shareholders attending the corporate annual meeting Wednesday in San Francisco tossed some verbal grenades at CEO Robert Glynn for the company’s $83 million bonus program last year for 17 of the top executives, including Glynn himself, who pocketed the single biggest bonus at $17 million.