Amid a swirl of pre-AGA storage speculation, the futures marketcontinued lower Wednesday, touching its lowest level so far thismonth. After a lower opening, the July contract quickly mapped outits high trade of the day at $2.36, before slipping 4 cents tofinish at $2.327. Estimated volume of 65,584 injected some lifeinto the market, following sub-45,000 trading sessions Monday andTuesday.
Continued
Articles from Continued
Merger Week Rolls on With Nos. 3 & 4
Merger week in the energy industry continued yesterday with twomore convergence combinations in New England. The larger of the twoinvolved Energy East, the parent company of Upstate New York’scombination utility New York State Electric & Gas, buying CMPGroup, parent of Maine’s largest electric utility, Central MainePower, for $1.2 billion in cash and debt. The other transaction wasa $679 million purchase, including assumption of $201 million indebt, of Yankee Energy by its former parent company NortheastUtilities.
Dynegy, Illinova Announce $2 Billion Merger Deal
The merger bandwagon continued Monday with the announcement of a$2 billion deal that would bring together Illinois-headquarteredIllinova Corp., which has a strong Midwest power generation baseand a developing national energy services business, withHouston-based Dynegy Inc., a leading marketer of energy productsand services. The merged company would be called Dynegy.
CMS Adds Midstream and Downstream Assets
CMS Gas Transmission and Storage Co., the new pipeline division of the Michigan utility, continued to grow last week as its subsidiary CMS Continental Natural Gas purchased Anson Gas Marketing and the Midcontinent Gas Pipeline from Chesapeake Energy Marketing. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
CMS Adds Midstream and Downstream Assets
CMS Gas Transmission and Storage Co. continued its activitybinge Wednesday as its subsidiary CMS Continental Natural Gaspurchased Anson Gas Marketing and the Midcontinent Gas Pipelinefrom Chesapeake Energy Marketing. Terms of the transaction were notdisclosed.
Futures Lower in Pre-AGA Cool-Off
Light profit-taking that began in Monday’s Access tradingsession, continued yesterday at the New York Mercantile Exchange.Locals were seen as aggressive sellers, unloading positions aheadof today’s storage report. The July contract finished at $2.393,down 4.9 cents for the day.
Some Points Exceed Index Levels by a Dime
The cash market continued Tuesday to show the same signs ofaftermarket strength-and even more in some cases-that it did lastFriday in swing deals done for June 1 only. Many of the Gulf Coastpipes were trading about a dime above indexes, and most otherpoints were at least a nickel above indexes. However, some tradersdidn’t expect the higher prices to last, noting late softness insome markets such as Chicago.
Bears Show No Doubt in Extending Price Rout
Natural gas futures continued lower yesterday and were able tobreak through a key support level. The June contract finished 4.5cents lower at $2.191 after mapping out a $2.17 low for the day.
Prices Up, But Some See Cash Market Peaking
Cash prices continued climbing by another nickel or more at mostpoints Wednesday, but traders sensed the market might have peakedfor the first week of the May aftermarket. They cited late dealsbeing done several cents below the early-morning highs. And the AGAstorage report of 34 Bcf in injections last week, although it cametoo late to affect Wednesday’s cash business, was regarded by manyas contributing to a more bearish mood. One source characterizedthe figure as “kind of middle of the road” (because it met theexpectations of many) but leaning slightly to the bearish side. Heand others noted the drop in Access futures prices after the reportcame out.
Futures Ratchet Higher in Technical Trade
Adding to Monday’s gains the natural gas futures continuedhigher at Nymex yesterday as technical buying lifted the Junecontract in active trading. And with that 4.8-cent rally to $2.359,June was able to successfully fill in $2.31-33 daily chart gap andnotch its highest daily close in more than a year.