Combination

Boosted by the bullish combination of hurricane fears and Gulf-area production curtailments, the natural gas futures market surged higher early Tuesday on waves of commercial and local-trader buying. After gapping higher at the opening bell, the September contract shot to a new one-week high at $5.96 as all eyes were watching the development of Tropical Storm (TS) Bonnie in the Gulf of Mexico.

Second quarter financial results from several eastern gas and combination utilities were mixed with Vectren reporting a 20% drop in net income, NiSource reporting lower than expected results yet improvements compared with 2Q2003 and AGL Resources posting higher than expected earnings.

Second quarter financial results from several eastern gas and combination utilities were mixed with Vectren reporting a 20% drop in net income, NiSource reporting lower than expected results yet improvements compared with 2Q2003 and AGL Resources posting higher than expected earnings.

With solutions underway on the regulatory, legislative and financial fronts, PG&E Corp. and its combination utility are optimistic that they will reach several key milestones by mid-year.

As anticipated, the combination of generally mild weather forecasts, lower load over a weekend and the previous day’s weakness in energy futures caused prices to range from flat to less than a dime lower at a majority of points Friday. However, decreases of more than a dime were clustered in the West, where a heat wave earlier in the week continued to abate.

With solutions underway on the regulatory, legislative and financial fronts, PG&E Corp. and its combination utility are optimistic that they will reach several key milestones by mid-year.

Aided by the combination of higher average oil and natural gas sales prices, higher sales volumes and lower oil and gas production expenses, Forest Oil Corp. posted 2003 net earnings from continuing operations of $90.2 million or $1.82 per basic share and net earnings of $88.4 million or $1.79 per basic share, an increase of over 300% compared to net earnings of $21.3 million or $0.45 per share in 2002.

Aided by the combination of higher average oil and natural gas sales prices, higher sales volumes and lower oil and gas production expenses, Forest Oil Corp. posted 2003 net earnings from continuing operations of $90.2 million or $1.82 per basic share and net earnings of $88.4 million or $1.79 per basic share, an increase of over 300% compared to net earnings of $21.3 million or $0.45 per share in 2002.

As one source had expected (see Daily GPI, March 4), the combination of Wednesday’s screen dive and generally mild weather forecasts resulted in spot market weakness Thursday. All points were close to united in recording drops from a dime to about a quarter; most were in the mid to upper teens.