Downturn

Despite the current nationwide economic slowdown, spending for the development and operation of power generation, transmission facilities and natural gas pipelines in the United States remains strong, according to ENSR International, a worldwide environmental and energy development services firm.

Primarily building on upward momentum from the day before and an initially higher screen, the cash market continued to push higher Wednesday with gains that were mostly within a few cents on either side of 20 cents but tended to be greater in the Rockies.

Despite the downturn in the U.S. economy and the recent drop in natural gas and oil prices, Houston-based El Paso Corp. expects to meet or beat Wall Street’s third quarter earnings estimate, CEO William A. Wise said Thursday. The corporation expects full-year 2001 earnings to total $3.30 per diluted share before non-recurring charges, and meet or exceed First Call’s third quarter estimate of $0.74 a share.

Despite the downturn in the U.S. economy and the recent drop in natural gas and oil prices, Houston-based El Paso Corp. expects to meet or beat Wall Street’s third quarter earnings estimate, CEO William A. Wise said Thursday. The corporation expects full-year 2001 earnings to total $3.30 per diluted share before non-recurring charges, and meet or exceed First Call’s third quarter estimate of $0.74 a share.

Despite the sharp downturn in natural gas prices, Mirant CFO Raymond D. Hill said his company is on a substantial gas expansion program. Mirant expects to double its participation in the gas market over the next four years.

Despite the sharp downturn in natural gas prices, Mirant CFO Raymond D. Hill said his company is on a substantial gas expansion program. Mirant expects to double its participation in the gas market over the next four years.

Aquila Inc. is maintaining its previously set 25% growth target for the year despite the downturn in energy stocks and the continuing regulatory and legislative tirade against western power generators and marketers. By remaining geographically diverse across the United States, Aquila executives said they effectively eliminate concentration risk.

Aquila Inc. is maintaining its previously set 25% growth target for the year despite the downturn in energy stocks and the continuing regulatory and legislative tirade against western power generators and marketers. By remaining geographically diverse across the United States, Aquila executives said they effectively eliminate concentration risk.

As some sources had suspected, the recent buildup in air conditioning load wasn’t strong enough to sustain this week’s bull market in the wake of another big storage injection report and associated screen softness. Only small to moderate Rockies/San Juan increases went against the grain of overall market declines Thursday that were mostly between a dime and 30 cents but got as big as nearly $1.50 for California border deliveries into SoCalGas.