Course

The course and the strength of Tropical Storm Claudette once it reaches landfall on the Yucatan Peninsula is still up for debate. While some hurricane watchers question whether the storm will be at hurricane strength when it reaches the Gulf of Mexico, meteorologists at Weather 2000 expect Claudette to become a hurricane before crossing the Yucatan. They said that all interests along the Texas Gulf Coast remain fair game for a potential hurricane strike.

Steve Letbetter, chairman and CEO of Reliant Resources Inc. (RRI), became the latest top-level casualty of the collapse in the energy marketing industry after announcing his resignation last week. Board member Joel V. Staff, former CEO of National Oilwell Inc., has assumed Letbetter’s responsibilities until a new CEO is elected.

Steve Letbetter, chairman and CEO of Reliant Resources Inc. (RRI) resigned over the weekend, yet another casualty of the scandals and collapse of the energy marketing industry. Board member Joel V. Staff, former CEO of National Oilwell Inc., has assumed Letbetter’s responsibilities until a new CEO is elected.

The clock is ticking on a time bomb with potential to disrupt the smooth course of cross border free trade in natural gas, a Canadian economic think-tank has warned.

The clock is ticking on a time bomb with potential to disrupt the smooth course of free trade in natural gas to which the continental market has become accustomed, a Canadian economic think-tank has warned.

Despite expectations of Old Man Winter’s arrival Friday in the upper Midwest, Great Lakes and Northeast, spot prices were flat to down a few cents at most locations with even larger declines in the West where temperatures remained well above normal. The weekly gas storage report of a 1 Bcf withdrawal apparently had a little something for everyone on Thursday. It came in lower than many had expected and added a little bearish pressure to the cash market, but the withdrawal was bullish relative to the 33 Bcf injection during the same week last year, and that apparently was a factor in the 9.6 cent increase in December futures.

A political trap has been added to the geological, technical and environmental obstacle course faced by Canadian natural gas suppliers. A sore spot in industry relations with native communities is worsening to the point where the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association (CEPA) has warned that “a point of crisis” is at hand.

A political trap has been added to the geological, technical and environmental obstacle course faced by Canadian natural gas suppliers. A sore spot in industry relations with native communities is worsening to the point where the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association has warned that “a point of crisis” is at hand.

With little fanfare, following three conference calls over the course of the week, late Friday, Dallas-based TXU Corp. said it would increase its available cash by $2.6 billion by Monday or Tuesday, drawing upon its unsecured bank facilities at TXU US Holdings and TXU Energy.