Early

The California Public Utilities Commission has set a newschedule for hearings on gas industry restructuring, leading to aproposed policy decision in early 1999 and public hearings aroundthe state. The CPUC expects to adopt a final market structurepolicy no earlier than January 1, 2000 in keeping with alegislative mandate which prohibits the Commission making anychanges until the year 2000.

Scana Energy Marketing could have the early lead in Georgia’sretail gas market. Its mass marketing campaign and generousincentives for residential customers to switch suppliers seem tohave caught many competitors by surprise.

Scana Energy Marketing could have the early lead in Georgia’sretail gas market. Its mass marketing campaign and generousincentives for residential customers to switch suppliers seem tohave caught many competitors by surprise.

Fresh off Wednesday’s advance the futures market looked poisedto continue higher Thursday as early buying prompted the market upat the open. However, a 25-cent gain in two days was more than eventhe greediest of bulls could handle, and the market reacted bytrending down. That left the November contract with a 1.9 cent lossto settle at $2.414 at the final bell.

Futures came under heavy selling pressure early in the dayMonday, and the market never looked back as traders began discountto the threat of Hurricane Georges causing a major impact to gasproduction. “There was only one certainty you could bank on cominginto the market [Monday] morning. Momentum-whichever way the marketmoved at the open would dictate the direction for the rest of thetrading session,” a New York broker said. The October contract wasdealt the largest losses, slipping 15 cents to limp off the boardat $2.031.

Hurricane Georges continued along a path yesterday that revealeda stunning possibility that the Gulf of Mexico could be paid afifth unwelcome visit by a named storm this hurricane season,making 1998 one of the most active in recent memory. And therestill are more than two entire months left for mother nature tobrew up even more trouble. Two more tropical storms are growing inintensity right behind Georges.

The futures market came under heavy selling pressure earlyThursday, adding to losses that began in the Wednesday eveningAccess session. However, the October contract was unable to broachsupport at $2.075, and buying enabled the prompt month to recoverslightly in the afternoon. October ended the day down 10.3 cents at$2.138.

The futures market followed-through on its usual hurricanescript Wednesday by reversing early week price spikes to plummetlower as Hurricane Earl plodded toward Florida and away from gulfcoast production. “Buy the rumor, then sell the fact,” is the adageoften bandied about when there is the potential for a hurricane todisturb supplies in the gulf and yesterday the phrase rang true asdismal fundamentals factors once again took center stage in themarket. That carried the October contract down 13.4 cents to settleat $1.652.

For the second week in a row, the futures market was unable tobuild on advances posted early in the week, and after the Septembercontract flirted with, but did not break through resistanceTuesday, again came under significant selling pressure that leftthe prompt month down 8.3 cents to settle at $1.812.