Difficult

Enron Corp.’s biggest “void” in the energy trading industry has been in service to customers, many of whom have been left in the lurch, but those customers will be taken care of quickly, as other marketers move into the void, said a panel of energy company executives speaking at the 22nd Annual Andersen Energy Symposium in Houston Wednesday. Many energy companies expect to see opportunities to pick up from the ranks of Enron unemployed some of the best employees in the business, as well as their customer contacts.

Butte-based Montana Power made the not-so-difficult decisionthis week to give its stock a chance to trade among thetelecommunications and technology giants rather than the 500-poundutility weaklings. Late Tuesday the company announced a bold planto divest $1.5 billion in regulated and unregulated energy assetsin order to focus on Touch America, its thriving telecommunicationsbusiness. Of the 2,500 Montana Power employees, only 200 willremain with the company.

It wasn’t difficult to understand why spot prices were going upsharply again Monday when one considers that several new pipelineOFOs related to colder weather joined ongoing OFOs or other systemconstraints (see Transportation Notes). Freezing conditions weresettling into much of the nation’s midsection Monday, with winterstorms expected to penetrate even the Deep South by today. Thepredictable result of such a frigid onslaught was heavy heatingdemand for gas that sent prices higher by about a dime or more onmost pipes. Some points, such as Chicago and Northeast citygatesalong with Upper Midwest deliveries by Northern Natural Gas (demarcand Ventura), achieved gains in excess of 20 cents.

Avista Energy had a difficult second quarter, bringing in abouthalf the net income ($8.5 million) it posted in the second quarterof last year ($15.6 million), mainly because of an $11.6 millionnet loss in its marketing and trading division and costs associatedwith expanding its non-regulated businesses. But CEO T. M. Matthewssaid he’s comfortable that earnings this year will fall within therange of securities analysts’ current estimates, which are between$1.25 and $1.35 per share. He also predicted the company is in forsome significant changes ahead.

The hypervolatility in swing deals done Friday for Nov. 1-2 madeit difficult to gauge where the cash market was moving Monday. Butthe overall mix of flat to about a dime or so up or down (includingjust about all points in between) amounted to a general wash thattilted a little bit to the negative side, sources said. Besides,they added, it was generally a quiet day for most traders as theytook stock of bidweek and prospects for the upcoming days.