Close

Weekend swing prices skyrocketed as high as $5.50 late Friday morning at Transco’s Zone 6-New York City pool. But as startling as that quote was, it wasn’t representative of the overall market in which price averages ranged from 35 cents higher (Zone 6-NYC) to 20 cents lower (PG&E citygate). Flat to slightly higher numbers predominated, and most of the softness came at western points.

Buoyed by heavy market-on-close buying, natural gas futures spiked higher at the closing bell, but that only served to trim losses suffered earlier in the trading session. The December contract finished at $2.606, down 9 cents for the session. Meanwhile, the January contract closed with a 1.6-cent gain at $2.951, proving that traders have not yet given up on the winter. Estimated volume of 120,569 was heavy, even considering it was December’s penultimate trading day.

Shareholders of Louis Dreyfus Natural Gas approved the company’s acquisition by Dominion. Trading of Louis Dreyfus stock will be suspended at the close of trading today and will subsequently be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. The transaction will be effective on Thursday. Dominion announced in September that it would acquire Louis Dreyfus for $2.3 billion in cash, stock and assumed debt. The deal grows Dominion’s gas reserves by 60% or 4.6 Bcfe. Its production will grow to more than 450 Bcf a year, a 40% hike.

Enron Corp.’s bloodletting continued Wednesday, as the stock price took another hit in extremely heavy volume, with close to 50 million shares trading hands. The stock finally closed at $16.54, down another $3.25, or 16.42%, from the previous day, after rocking back and forth as one of the biggest losers in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange. It reached a depth of $15.51 before climbing again. Pouring salt on the wound, several Wall Street analysts also cut their ratings Wednesday, including Prudential Securities, which advised its clients to sell.

Buoyed by the release of a second-straight smaller-than-expected storage injection figure, natural gas futures climbed back from negative territory yesterday afternoon to notch a new three-week high, as weak shorts scrambled to cover their positions. The November contract finished at $2.48, up 9.2 cents for the session, but off slightly from the $2.54 high notched about 10 minutes earlier.

A highly stressful trading week came to a close Friday with most of the market in a general holding pattern. Flat to barely higher or lower numbers prevailed at a majority of points; declines of about a nickel or more were concentrated in the Rockies and California.

Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) announced that it has suspended its open season for additional intrastate pipeline capacity that was scheduled to close Aug. 30. The California utility said it made the decision not to go forward with the open season at this time while conducting a corporate-wide review related to its ongoing bankruptcy proceedings.

California regulators and two state utilities have asked FERC Chief Administrative Law Judge Curtis Wagner to admit a highly sensitive internal memorandum, that allegedly demonstrates the intimate working relationship between parent El Paso Corp. and affiliates El Paso Natural Gas and El Paso Merchant Energy Co. (EPME), into the record of the high-profile proceeding exploring charges of affiliate abuse.

Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) announced that it has suspended its open season for additional intrastate pipeline capacity that was scheduled to close Aug. 30. The California utility said it made the decision not to go forward with the open season at this time while conducting a corporate-wide review related to its ongoing bankruptcy proceedings.