Deserted

Borrowing from the old question about whether a tree falling in a deserted forest actually makes a sound, gas futures market observers wondered Thursday whether the 44 Bcf storage injection reported by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) actually had any market impact because no one seemed to notice its release.

Hurricane Georges roared through a deserted eastern Gulf of Mexico today, the fifth of what has been an alphabet soup of named storms to hit in four of the last five weeks, once again sending producers scurrying for shore, shutting in production or putting wells on automatic pilot.