Coupled

The continuing decline of heating load in North America, coupled with a lack of substantive cooling load to replace it, caught up with the cash market Thursday and caused moderate price drops at most points. Rockies points took the biggest hits by far, with Northwest-domestic and Opal recording dollar-plus plunges.

The Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA) expects working gas in storage to reach 3.5-3.6 Tcf by the start of the winter heating season, which, when coupled with the return of Gulf of Mexico production lost in the 2005 hurricanes — and no significant hurricanes so far this year — means lower prices for consumers this winter.

The Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA) expects working gas in storage to reach 3.5-3.6 Tcf by the start of the winter heating season, which, when coupled with the return of Gulf of Mexico production lost in the 2005 hurricanes — and no significant hurricanes so far this year — means lower prices for consumers this winter.

Anticipated colder weather arrived on schedule as advertised over the weekend and, coupled with Friday’s gain of a little more than a quarter in natural gas futures and the return of industrial load from its usual weekend hiatus, was able to generate double-digit price gains at nearly all points Monday.

As a result of higher natural gas prices, Xcel Energy last week proposed an 18% increase in January 2006 natural gas commodity prices. Coupled with a slight increase in use, projected bills would increase next month by 17% for typical residential customers and by 24% for typical small-business customers. If approved, the new prices would take effect Jan. 1, 2006.

A huge loss on the market value of derivative contracts, coupled with write-offs for asset sales and in value of a power plant, pushed El Paso Corp. to a third quarter loss of $321 million (minus 50 cents/share), from a $214 million loss (minus 33 cents) in 3Q2004. Asset sales also sent revenue plunging 43% to $821 million from $1.4 billion.

The acquisition of Koch’s natural gas liquids (NGL) business in July, coupled with higher prices, volumes and margins, lifted Tulsa-based Oneok Inc.’s third quarter earnings up significantly, with net income soaring to $184.5 million ($1.70/share) from $20.8 million (19 cents) in 3Q2004.

Forecasts of fairly pleasant early-fall weather virtually everywhere outside the southern edge of the U.S., coupled with reports that the damage to oil and gas infrastructure caused by Hurricane Rita wasn’t as bad as what had been expected, led to sharp price drops across the board Monday that were mostly in triple digits.

Weather fundamentals are weakening a bit, but the prospect of much higher prices this winter coupled with a tight supply situation kept quotes on the rise Wednesday at nearly all points. A few flat to lower points kept the gains from extending across the board.