Dictate

For the second time in less than a month the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) has delayed release of proposed regulations that may dictate how portions of the Marcellus Shale are developed. The proposed rules now aren’t expected until November or December.

Mixed price movement was back in vogue Wednesday in trading for first-of-November flows. Market-area weather trends tended to dictate where gains or losses occurred in some cases, but there were also some anomalies. The cash market continued to have a little prior-day screen support from Tuesday’s 4.7-cent advance by December futures.

Defying the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, California authorities Wednesday challenged the federal panel’s order from last month, which stated that by next year the state must replace its five-member, governor-appointed oversight board at the California Independent System Operator (Cal-ISO) with a larger, “more independent” board of governors. In effect, California officials are telling FERC it has no legal authority to force the state to do so.

Oftentimes when the natural gas futures contract moves in adirection that fundamentals do not necessarily dictate, commercialtraders are left shaking their heads and cursing those speculators”who know nothing about how the physical market works.” But as thepanelists at yesterday’s GasMart Power’98 session titled StirringUp the Natural Gas Futures Market with Locals & Funds stressed,speculative funds are here to stay, so perhaps commercials would bewell served to learn how they think.