Continued

As the countdown to today’s May futures expiry continuedTuesday, swing cash prices certainly did their part to encouragethe bulls in Nymex’s trading pit. But in a form of reciprocatingsupport, sources said late-April price rises of about a dime inmost markets were based almost solely on screen upticks Monday andTuesday. Except for moderate air conditioning load in Texas and theSoutheast and a bit of lingering chill in the West, weatherfundamentals were almost non-existent, they said.

During the first quarter, Coastal Corp. continued to avoid themarket slump that has plagued the producing community, posting an11% increase in earnings to $134.5 million, or 62 cents per share,which was slightly better than the 60 cents/share that Wall Streetexpected. In 1Q98, the company earned $122.9 million, or 55 centsper share, but booked a $1.9 million loss related to an asset sale.

Cash prices finished the week on a positive note as continuedincremental heating demand and a strong futures market bolsteredprices Friday. Trading was very active from the outset, a Gulftrader told Daily GPI. “There were some undeniable factors pointingto higher cash prices. Overnight gains in Access trading set thetone, then the over the counter market verified the strength,” heexplained. So it came as no surprise when the first cash offerswere a nickel or more above Thursday’s averages. But the marketcould not sustain the price rally and after buyers had filled theirrequirements at around 9:45 CST, seller realized their lowestprices of the day in late morning dealings.

Adding to gains achieved in the Monday evening Access tradingsession, the May contract continued higher yesterday morning asbulls confidently bolstered their long positions. However, recentgains notched by natural gas have not come without a fight andTuesday was no different. After topping out at $2.17, the promptmonth reversed direction in the afternoon, nearly erasing itsadvance by the close. May finished at $2.136, up 0.8 cents on theday.

Cash prices continued on an upward track Thursday, although thegains were a bit smaller than those posted Wednesday. A fewincreases barely exceeded a nickel, such as at Waha and the HoustonShip Channel, where Texas air conditioning load is growing.Northeast citygates tended to go up about a nickel as a sourcereported storage demand rising there now that the injection seasonis under way. Most other points rose between 2 and 4 cents. It’sthe same old story about why the market has been fairly strong thisweek, a trader said-power generation load, a firm screen andwestern cold.

CMS Energy Corp. last week continued building what’s shaping up to be a Powder River Basin dynasty. Subsidiary CMS Continental Natural Gas agreed with Pennaco Energy, and CMS corporate affiliate CMS Oil and Gas to gather coal-bed methane gas from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana.

Midcoast Energy of Houston continued an ongoing buying spree last week. This time, however, the company has set its sights to the North. Subsidiary Midcoast Canada Operating Corp. bought the Calmar gas treating plant and gathering system in Alberta from Probe Exploration Inc. for C$20 million (US$13.2 million). The company said it has its sights on similar acquisitions in the future.

The near two-week futures rally from an apparent winter lowcontinued yesterday during the regular trading session helped by amajor winter storm that swept through the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic andNortheast and about a dime rise in cash prices. The April contractbroke through strong resistance and posted a new high of $1.965before backtracking to a low of $1.885 and then rebounding to closethe day up 1.3 cents at $1.941/MMBtu. A less-than-expected storagewithdrawal of 69 Bcf, however, helped push futures down sharplyduring the overnight Access trading session. As of 6:30 p.m. (EST),April was down 4.1 cents from the close to $1.900.

The merger bandwagon continued last week as UGI Corp. announceda proposed deal that would join its retail propane marketingbusiness with the largest marketer and distributor of printing andimaging paper and supply systems. UGI will sell UGI Utilities aspart of the transaction, making it the first company “in recenttimes” to completely shed itself of its utility business. Thecompany says it can take such a dramatic step because, unlike otherutilities, it has another “very distinct” business (propane) thataccounts for about two-thirds of its annual revenues.