Exacerbate

The economic storm that has ravaged U.S. credit markets and driven down commodity prices could exacerbate the economic fallout of any hurricanes that bedevil the energy sector this year in the Gulf of Mexico, an executive with insurance firm Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. said Thursday.

Rising production in Canada — pushed by the Ladyfern discovery in Western Canada — could exacerbate a “temporary” natural gas oversupply situation in the United States, which in turn could lead to falling North American natural gas prices, lower earnings and declining cash flow estimates for 2002, according to Lehman Brothers analysts Thomas Driscoll and Phil Skolnick in a research note released last Thursday. This gas surge, said the analysts, could send gas prices falling to the $2.25-2.50/MMBtu range for a “sustained period of time” — meaning months, not weeks.

Rising production in Canada — pushed by the Ladyfern discovery in Western Canada — could exacerbate a “temporary” natural gas oversupply situation in the United States, which in turn could lead to falling North American natural gas prices, lower earnings and declining cash flow estimates for 2002, according to Lehman Brothers analysts Thomas Driscoll and Phil Skolnick in a research note released Thursday. This gas surge, said the analysts, could send gas prices falling to the $2.25-2.50/MMBtu range for a “sustained period of time” — meaning months, not weeks.