Ends

The General Accounting Office (GAO) said Friday it was dropping its year-long legal effort to force the Bush White House to turn over the names of energy executives and companies that may have influenced the drafting of the administration’s national energy policy.

The General Accounting Office (GAO) said Friday it was dropping its year-long legal effort to force the Bush White House to turn over the names of energy executives and companies that may have influenced the drafting of the administration’s national energy policy.

The New York Mercantile Exchange Inc. said it set an annual volume record of 133.7 million futures and options contracts in 2002, smashing its previous record of 109.5 million contracts set in 1999. The 2002 volume also represented a 30% increase over the 103.1 million contracts traded in 2001.

Williams on Tuesday said that it has completed its settlement with California resolving most of the company’s outstanding litigation and civil claims related to natural gas and power markets with the states of California, Oregon and Washington.

Ending a five-day, one-dollar price spike, natural gas futures filtered lower Tuesday as traders alleviated overbought conditions and hedged against the possibility of a smaller-than-expected storage withdrawal report Thursday. Cash prices and crude oil futures, both of which have been supportive lately, turned lower Tuesday, pulling the natural gas futures market along with it.

While many energy companies are struggling to make ends meet in the current difficult financial environment, the service/fee-based liquids and gas transportation and terminals businesses of Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) and its master limited partnership, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP), showed tremendous growth in the third quarter, and CEO Richard Kinder said the companies see nothing standing in the way of continued double-digit growth despite the crisis in parts of the industry.

Its bid to capture up to 4.9% of four energy merchants is over, said Main Street AC Inc., which on Thursday closed its tender offer for Aquila Inc., Dynegy Inc., Mirant Corp. and Reliant Resources Inc. after reaching its funding limit of $170 million total to pay for the tendered shares.

A highly stressful trading week came to a close Friday with most of the market in a general holding pattern. Flat to barely higher or lower numbers prevailed at a majority of points; declines of about a nickel or more were concentrated in the Rockies and California.

Following weeks of nasty accusations by both sides in a high profile hostile takeover attempt, Canadian Superior Energy Inc. has quietly withdrawn its bid for Calgary crosstown rival Canadian 88 Energy Corp., citing Canadian 88’s “erosion” of shareholder value relative to its own. Canadian Superior also cited Canadian 88’s refusal to provide requested information in its takeover attempt.