Depression

The upgrade of a tropical wave in the southern Bahamas to Tropical Depression 3 (TD3) was almost a given during cash business Thursday, but it didn’t seem to impress traders. Neither did a heat wave forecast for the South and highs reaching the low to mid 90s in parts of the Midwest and Rockies.

The global economic depression caught up with commodity exchange operators in late 2008 as evidenced by the 4Q2008 net income reductions reported by rivals Atlanta-based IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (ICE) and Chicago-based CME Group.

The global economic depression caught up with commodity exchange operators in late 2008 as evidenced by the 4Q2008 net income reductions reported by rivals Atlanta-based IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (ICE) and Chicago-based CME Group.

Citing the current economic depression, Marathon Oil Corp. said it plans to continue its focus on noncore asset sales and has shelved its plans to divide its operations into two separate entities. Following the absorption of a noncash $1.4 billion impairment of goodwill related to its Oil Sands Mining segment, Marathon reported a 4Q2008 net loss of $41 million, or minus 6 cent/share, compared with net income in 4Q2007 of $668 million, or 94 cents/share.

With lowly Ernesto — now a tropical depression — sticking to a northern path and allowing the Gulf Coast to continue to quietly observe Hurricane Katrina’s one-year anniversary, October natural gas futures dug lower Wednesday, exploring price territory carved out Tuesday by the expiring September contract.

As one time Tropical Storm Chris weakened to a tropical depression on Friday, the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season was dealt an additional blow the day before as respected hurricane forecasters William Gray and Philip Klotzbach of the Colorado State University (CSU) hurricane forecast team issued a report reducing the number of storms expected in the basin this season.

As tropical depression six fizzled into a tropical wave with slim chances of revival, so did any hope for a gas futures market reversal. The August contract quickly resumed its downward course in overnight trading, and sailed right down through $5 Tuesday morning to a low of $4.84. The contract ended the day down 23.9 cents at $4.868, just a few cents above its daily low. Its daily high of $5.040 was reached just after the opening bell.

Isidore, downgraded today from a Tropical Storm to a Tropical Depression, has taken as much as 4.5 million bbl of oil and 25 Bcf of natural gas off the U.S. market during the three-day shutdown of oil and gas operations on the Gulf of Mexico outer continental shelf (OCS), the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) estimated Thursday.

During the great Rocky Mountain region price depression of theearly 90s, MMBtus were going for pocket change; producers werelucky to get a buck for an MMBtu. Today they are enjoying justunder two bucks. The average price for gas at Opal, WY, in 1998 was$1.81 slightly down from the ’97 boom year ($2.01/MMBtu) but stillin gravy-land. The Rockies have enjoyed two years of relativeprosperity, but some say “look out for what’s ahead.”