Correction

In light of last Thursday’s 47-cent downward futures correctionand new winter forecasts by the National Weather Service,PaineWebber may have jumped the gun a bit in raising its Henry Hubprice projections late last week by about 15 cents for this yearand next to $3.90 and $3.95, respectively. But the investment firmalready was playing catch-up to Salomon Smith Barney (SSB) and therest of the bullish bunch on Wall Street.

In light of yesterday’s 47-cent downward futures correction,PaineWebber may have jumped the gun a bit in raising its Henry Hubprice projections yesterday by about 15 cents for this year andnext to $3.90 and $3.95, respectively. But the investment firmalready is playing catch-up to Salomon Smith Barney (SSB) and therest of the bullish bunch on Wall Street.

In the good news department: Chevron Canada Resources said thatits reported natural gas production volumes from its Fort LiardK-29 well in the southwestern part of the Northwest Territories areabout 25 MMcf/d more than it had estimated.

Despite the huge post expiration-day futures correction lastThursday, prices rebounded some Friday and for good reason,according to Salomon Smith Barney energy analyst Robert Morris.

Despite the large post expiration-day futures correctiondownward last Thursday, prices rebounded some Friday and for goodreason, according to Salomon Smith Barney energy analyst RobertMorris.

NGI reported Monday that the 12th victim of the Aug. 19explosion and fire on El Paso Natural Gas had died Friday based onmisinformation received during an interview with Stacey Gerard,deputy administrator of the Department of Transportation’s Officeof Pipeline Safety (OPS). “We got an internal call that the person[12th victim] had died. I mean that’s really all we’re going by,”said DOT spokeswoman Debbie Hinz in trying to explain the erroryesterday. The sole survivor of the New Mexico blast, Amanda Smith,25, remains in critical condition at the University Medical Centerin Lubbock, TX.

Futures succumbed to another major technical correctionyesterday as the July contract gapped 2.5 cents lower at the openand dropped a dime early on before plummeting after the AGA gasstorage report came out at 2 p.m. At the end of the regular tradingsession, July was down 34.9 cents, August had dropped 35.1 centsand September was off 33.1 cents. The July contract had a 39-centrange for the day, trading as high as $4.335 and as low as $3.930.

Led by heavy buying interest in winter months, natural gasfutures continued to defy gravity yesterday as traders bid themarket up for the seventh straight session. June finished up 5.2cents at $3.448, but the real story was the Nov-Mar. strip, whichnotched an impressive 7.3-cent gain to close at $3.613.

NGI’s Daily Gas Price Index incorrectly stated that “active”ownership by a class of market participants in a regionaltransmission organization (RTO) was limited to a benchmark of 25%.The correct level is 15%. Active ownership of RTOs by either aclass of market participants or an individual market participantwill cease after a five-year period, “with an extension possible incertain circumstances,” FERC said last week on rehearing of Order2000, which promotes the formation of RTOs in the electricitymarket.