Check

FERC last week told Columbia Energy Group to check the lifesigns of the $650 million Millennium Pipeline project and provide adiagnosis within 20 days so the Commission can complete work on theproject’s final enviromental impact statement. The 442-mile projectwould bring about 714 MMcf/d of gas from Canada under Lake Erie tothe New York metropolitan area.

After a negative opening and a quick check lower, natural gasfutures battled back Tuesday, as traders gleaned support fromstrength in nearby physical market prices and technical buying inout months. But despite yesterday’s positive price direction, theNovember contract never fully recovered from early its earlysluggishness and finished off 0.5 cents at $3.011. Meanwhile,December and January contracts closed up 2.6 cents and 2.1 cents at$3.148 and $3.158 respectively.

Putting pipeline sponsors at risk for their projects would be a”useful check” against the overbuilding of new capacity into theburgeoning Northeast market, but it’s not a cure-all for all of theconcerns that accompany such projects, FERC Commissioner WilliamMassey told a group of industrial gas customers.

Putting pipeline sponsors at risk for their projects would be a”useful check” against the overbuilding of new capacity into theburgeoning Northeast market, but it’s not a cure-all for all of theissues that accompany such projects, FERC Commissioner WilliamMassey told industrial gas customers last week.

After a quick check lower to fill in a small chart gap, thefutures market continued higher last Friday in an abbreviated, butextremely active trading session. The July contract finished up 7.6cents to $2.358, capping a two-day, 14.8-cent advance. Estimatedvolume was 66,263.