Cautiously

Part of Wall Street spoke quickly and cautiously late Tuesday despite the separation of the Canada-to-California interstate PG&E Gas Transmission-Northwest pipeline from the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing made by its parent, the PG&E Corp.’s merchant energy group, earlier in the day. The pipeline still could be sold off in the bankruptcy proceeding, a spokesperson said.

Natural gas futures rebounded cautiously Thursday after dropping below the $6.00 mark early in the session on the news that a larger-than-expected 90 Bcf was injected into underground storage facilities last week. The June contract finished at $6.035, down 16.3 cents for the session and 8.5 cents off its $5.95 low.

Some natural gas insiders are cautiously optimistic that the market ultimately will deal effectively with the current challenges it faces and new players eventually will fill the gap left by the former merchant energy “titans,” according to a recent study conducted by R. J. Rudden Associates Inc.

In a trading session reminiscent of days long gone, natural gasfutures were somewhat subdued Friday as traders held prices withina tight 16-cent trading range. Armed with fresh weather forecastsas well as a constructive technical outlook, traders added to theirlength, not only in the prompt month, but also in the summercontracts. Being the last month left on the winter of 2001 strip,March continued to play the role as the sacrificial lamb as it waslimited to a modest 5.2-cent advance. Comparatively, theApril-October summer strip showed a little more life, rumbling 7.1cents higher to close at $5.725.

Shippers on Texas Gas Transmission Corp. have called on FERC toproceed cautiously with the pipeline’s proposed Section 4 generalrate filing that seeks to increase its total cost of service by19%, or $48 million, and boost annual rates for jurisdictionalpipeline and storage services by about $81 million.

Shippers on Texas Gas Transmission Corp. have called on FERC toproceed cautiously with the pipeline’s proposed Section 4 generalrate filing that seeks to increase its total cost of service by19%, or $48 million, and boost annual rates for jurisdictionalpipeline and storage services by about $81 million.

Shippers are reacting cautiously to the pipelines’auction-related proposals that would cap the reserve price – theminimum bid that pipes would accept – at the maximum lawful ratefor short-term capacity, and initiate seasonal ratemaking.