Dollar

In a week that saw it sign a 10-year supply deal with the stateof California, double its gas reserves with a billion-dollarCanadian acquisition and dip into the financial markets for morethan a billion, it seemed only fitting that San Jose, CA-basedCalpine Corp. should announce bullish earning results for 2000.

As anticipated after Wednesday’s dollar-plus screen plunge, cashprices also were falling bigtime Thursday. Exceptions to declinesof 50 cents or more were rare. However, some sources detected signsthat the huge erosion of cash numbers that started late last weekmight be near an end.

Southern California Edison made good on its threat to go tocourt if FERC failed to respond immediately to its request tore-impose price controls on bulk power sales in the in theout-of-control California market.

After etching out a wide, half-dollar trading range last week,natural gas futures settled down appreciably Tuesday, as tradersremained largely on the sidelines ahead of the release of freshweather and storage news. Low estimated volume of just 46,818 was atestament to the quiet session.

Although the E&P software and services business is abillion-dollar-a-year industry, more than half of the world’sgeoscientists are not using currently available computer technologyto evaluate prospects, according to Bob Stevenson, president ofE&P software provider Geographix, a Houston-based subsidiary ofLandmark Graphics.

President Clinton last week signed a bill into law thatestablishes a multi-million dollar federal loan-guarantee programto help independent oil and natural gas producers recover from theeffects of depressed crude oil prices. The measure was passed bythe House earlier this month, and approved by the Senate in June.

President Clinton signed into law this week a bill thatestablishes a multimillion dollar federal loan-guarantee program tohelp independent oil and natural gas producers recover from theeffects of depressed crude oil prices. The measure was passed bythe House earlier this month, and approved by the Senate in June.

A multi-million dollar acquisition last week by Cross TimbersOil Co. of Fort Worth, TX, further grew the company’s presence inthe Arkoma Basin and also put the producer in the 90% natural gascolumn.

With its stock price languishing around a dollar, ChesapeakeEnergy is watching the depressed gas and oil market from atop a$900 million mountain of debt. The view, according to CEO Aubrey K.McClendon, is one of opportunity. “We think our company has one ofthe best upside stories for natural gas prices down the road.”