Coming

With commodity prices soaring, first quarter producer earningsare coming in at record levels. Vastar Resources reported a massive307% increase first-quarter 2000 net income. Income was tallied at$77.4 million ($0.78 per diluted share), the company’s thirdconsecutive quarterly record, compared to $19 million ($0.19 perdiluted share) in 1Q99. Vastar’s gas production was down nearly 10%to 1,054 MMcf/d, but realized gas prices were up 57 cents to $2.19on average. Crude and condensate production came in at 46.0thousand barrels per day (Mb/d) down from 46.7 Mb/d in the sameperiod last year, but realized oil prices rocketed to $24.73 from$11.16. And gas liquids production increased to 20.8 Mb/d from 9.2Mbd in 1Q99, while realized liquids prices soared to $19.11 from$8.10.

The cash market arrested the slide that had been developingTuesday by coming to a near-standstill in price movement Wednesday.Only a few points ranged any further than a penny or so to eitherside of flat.

Midcoast Interstate Transmission’s (MIT) four-year effort toblock construction of Southern Natural’s North Alabama Pipeline iscoming to a close as the line is poised to start flowing gas. The120-mile, 70 MMcf/d mainline extension is seen as a threat by MIT,which has enjoyed a monopoly over transportation in that region foryears.

Midcoast Interstate Transmission’s (MIT) four-year effort toblock construction of Southern Natural’s North Alabama Pipeline iscoming to a close as the line is poised to start flowing gas. The120-mile, 70 MMcf/d mainline extension is seen as a threat by MIT,which has enjoyed a monopoly over transportation in that region foryears.

In the latest of a string of bullish reports for the gasindustry, the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Short-TermEnergy Outlook projected prices in the coming months to be 25% to30% higher than last winter. It also said that demand, which theEIA said rose by less than 1% in 1999 compared to 1998, is poisedto grow 4.6% in 2000. The demand jump, which puts the consumptionlevel at 22.4 Tcf, represents an increase of 1 Tcf over 1999’sconsumption levels.

Williams’ Mid-America Pipeline subsidiary completed a 412-milepipeline that adds 45,000 b/d of capacity to its gas liquidspipeline system coming out of the Rockies. Line-fill and pipelinestart-up operations were completed Nov. 14.

Despite a leveling off of the general cash market Thursday, inno way did it signify that the recent price slide was coming to anend, sources said. Instead, there was a consensus that weekendnumbers will be performing an ugly swan dive today. Chiefly therewill be the influence of Thursday’s dime-plus screen drop, whichoccurred for the most part after cash business had been completed,several traders said. In addition, quite a few pipelines eitherhave high-linepack OFOs already in place or are expected to issuethem today as storage injection capabilities are highly constrainedon nearly every system. And although it was getting decidedlychillier Thursday in the Midwest and Northeast market areas, theweather still wasn’t cold enough to generate any great amount ofheating load.

Enron’s days as an electric utility are coming to an end. Afteronly two years of owning Oregon-based Portland General Electric(PGE), Enron has decided to part with the company for a small gainthrough a sale to fellow western utility Sierra Pacific Resources.

The strong corrective rebound of the April contract seemed indanger of coming to an end yesterday morning when the contract setnew lows for the week at $1.835, but April held and quickly resumedits upward path in afternoon trade to post a new high at $1.930 andclose the day at $1.928/MMBtu.