Consistency

Other than increases at most western points, there was little consistency in Thursday’s price movement. Eastern markets generally were weaker due to mild weather and the screen’s drop of about a quarter a day earlier, but had several scattered points ranging from flat to up a little more than 40 cents in the mix.

The daily cash market seemed to be looking for direction Tuesday, seeing an approximately even mix of higher, lower and flat numbers. Consistency within market regions was lacking again in some cases as quotes ranged from down 20 cents to up about 15 cents. Most price movement up or down was in single digits.

There was little consistency in price movement Tuesday. Most of the market was close to flat, but also saw gains as big as about 30 cents and losses as big as about 15 cents. Then there was the special case of the Northeast, where a couple of points recorded dollar-plus increases while others took the biggest falls of up to nearly 60 cents.

A new National Energy Board (NEB) report found a “very close linkage and consistency” in gas prices between domestic markets in the Canadian Maritimes provinces and export markets in the United States.

A new National Energy Board (NEB) report found a “very close linkage and consistency” in gas prices between domestic markets in the Canadian Maritimes provinces and export markets in the United States.

Seeking greater transparency and consistency, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) to revise accounting regulations for treatment of the retirement of tangible long-lived assets. The rule would provide a specific method of accounting for costs incurred in the retirement and removal of assets such as pipelines, power plants, buildings, etc., where there is a legal obligation to decommission and/or remove them. The NOPR would add new balance sheet and income statement accounts to the Uniform Systems of Accounts and revise the Commission’s annual report forms (1, 1-F, 2, 2-A, 6) to include the new accounts and revised schedules. The proposed effective date of the rule would be Jan. 1, 2003.

There was almost no consistency in price movements Wednesday,although a slight majority of the changes were downward. Rises andfalls mixed with each other in the Gulf Coast andMidcontinent/Midwest.

The cash market fell across the board Friday but was hardly amodel of consistency. Declines ranged from barely 2-3 cents atscattered points to more than 20 cents at a few western points;most were between a nickel and about a dime. Activity was describedas quiet.

FERC last week reaffirmed the bulk of Order 639 in which it isattempting to bring about some consistency to the regulation ofnatural gas pipelines on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) byimposing similar reporting burdens on all facilities. It also madea few nips and tucks in the OCS order, especially with respect thefiling date for the reports and and the types of shippers that areexempted.