Drops

Williams Cos. CEO Steve Malcolm said Friday the company is “prepared to do whatever it takes” to improve the company’s balance sheet, including selling more assets if the opportunity arises. However, he said the sale of the Kern River Gas Transmission system to a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary — and an additional investment in Williams by the Warren Buffett-led company — affords it the opportunity to grow the business in the way it needs to grow.

There’s no need to worry about sharp drops in gas supply, said Arlington, VA-based investment bank Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. (FBR) in a new report. Gas production from new deepwater projects in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and a boom in liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports will be more than enough to carry the load over the next few years and make up for any lasting effect from the current drilling decline.

After much ballyhoo last year by El Paso Corp. about building six new liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminals in North America, the company has decided that U.S. public sentiment would be too difficult to sway, and has dropped plans for its three proposed U.S. onshore sites. However, in its new-and-improved plan, El Paso is modifying three new LNG tankers that would convert the cargo offshore and deliver it through a subsea pipeline to U.S. markets along the Gulf, East and West Coasts.

Prices fell about 10-20 cents across the board Thursday in what traders generally considered as “reality” catching up with the gas market. But one producer is expecting at least a mild rally today after the screen turned a negative morning into an afternoon settlement that was a little more than a nickel higher.

Williams Cos. CEO Steve Malcolm said Friday the company is “prepared to do whatever it takes” to improve the company’s balance sheet, including selling more assets if the opportunity arises. However, he said the sale of the Kern River Gas Transmission system (see Daily GPI, March 8) now will put the company in a cash neutral position, affording it the opportunity to grow the business in the way it needs to grow.

Williams’ common stock price dropped 22% Tuesday, amid a general market downturn, after the company estimated earnings, but said it would not have a complete and final earnings report until it assessed contingent liabilities related to Williams Communications Group (WCG), which was spun off last year.

Ending a four-day, 21-cent rally, natural gas futures reversed lower Thursday as weak long traders headed for the exits amid bearish weather news. After opening at Wednesday’s high at $2.40, the prompt month took on the trajectory of a safe pushed out of a 10 story building, falling 14 cents in the first 45 minutes of trading yesterday. From that point forward, February checked to either side of $2.26 on a heavy volume of 123,632 contracts. February closed at $2.254, down 14 cents from Wednesday’s settle.

Cash prices Monday set a pattern that few expect to be altered by much in the near term: a gradual downtrend of daily declines of about a dime or less at most points. One marketer said it was remarkable how uniform Monday’s price movement was from West to East, with virtually all markets falling nearly in lockstep close to either side of a dime.

The cash market paid little heed Wednesday to a winter storm moving into the Southeast and bringing snow to areas that rarely ever see the white stuff. Instead, it concentrated on the futures declines of Monday and yesterday, and the increasing switch to using storage in lieu of buying new supplies, in sending prices down by double-digit amounts at nearly all points.