Clues

Emphasizing education and his state’s economy, Oregon’s new governor on Monday offered an inaugural address that was devoid of any clues as to how he will treat energy issues in a state buffeted by high unemployment and a $3.5 billion budget deficit. However, a spokesperson in the state energy department said Gov. John Kitzhaber has indicated that he wants to focus on energy efficiency, biomass and long-term energy planning.

Authorities were searching for clues to determine what caused a helicopter to crash Sunday afternoon near Houma, LA, killing eight men being transported to an oil and gas platform in the Gulf of Mexico. The Lafayette, LA-based PHI Inc. helicopter was taking the men to Shell Oil Co.’s Cougar platform from Amelia, LA, said Shell spokesperson Robin Lebovitz. Amelia is 80 miles southwest of New Orleans. A spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board said the Sikorsky S-76C helicopter is thought to have crashed about seven minutes after it took off. A PHI pilot and a copilot died in the crash along with employees of The Moreno Group’s Dynamic Industries and MMR Offshore Services Inc. Dynamic Industries and MMR perform contract work for Shell. A single survivor was being treated for severe injuries at the Ocshner Foundation Hospital in Jefferson, LA.

With few clues as to what the holdup could be, FPL Group Inc. and Entergy Corp. said Monday in a joint statement that “certain issues have arisen in connection with their pending merger,” and that they would meet in the “near future” to address the problems. The merger, announced last July (see Daily GPI, Aug. 1, 2000), was scheduled to close this fall.

Feeding off late session gains notched Wednesday, natural gas futures plodder higher Thursday as traders continued to look past bearish fundamental factors to focus on the winter weather forecasts and modestly constructive technical indicators. However, an extremely light estimated volume of just 61,048 limited the market’s upside potential, and as a result, the January contract experienced an “inside-day” on the daily charts with a lower high and a higher low. The prompt month settled at $2.756, up 3.7 cents on the day.

Technicals, like a roadmap to a traveler, give natural gasfutures traders important clues as to where the market is takingthem. Although fundamental factors must never be ignored, they arehaving a vastly diminished impact during this low demand “shoulder”period. The April contract rocketed higher Tuesday after gappingabove a key technical level on the charts. April finished thesession at $5.621, up 29.9 cents on the session.

With few clues as to what the holdup could be, FPL Group Inc. and Entergy Corp. said last week in a joint statement that “certain issues have arisen in connection with their pending merger,” and that they would meet in the “near future” to address the problems. The merger, announced last July (see NGI, Aug. 7, 2000), was scheduled to close this fall.

With few clues as to what the holdup could be, FPL Group Inc.and Entergy Corp. said Monday in a joint statement that “certainissues have arisen in connection with their pending merger,” andthat they would meet in the “near future” to address the problems.The merger, announced last July (see Daily GPI, Aug. 1, 2000), wasscheduled to close this fall.