Experiencing

Despite experiencing a slight decline in income from its natural gas transmission business, TransCanada PipeLines Ltd. on Friday said its first quarter 2003 earnings marked an 11% increase over the company’s first quarter 2002 results. The company attributed the higher earnings to the strong performance of the power business and reduced net expenses in the corporate segment, partially offset by lower earnings from the transmission segment.

Despite experiencing a slight decline in income from its natural gas transmission business, TransCanada PipeLines Ltd. on Friday said its first quarter 2003 earnings marked an 11% increase over the company’s first quarter 2002 results. The company attributed the higher earnings to the strong performance of the power business and reduced net expenses in the corporate segment, partially offset by lower earnings from the transmission segment.

After experiencing muted price moves for more than a week, the natural gas futures market tumbled to new three-month lows Thursday as traders digested the latest in a recent string of bearish storage reports. The Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) weekly storage report featured a larger-than-expected 37 Bcf storage injection.

Transwestern said Wednesday it was experiencing problems with the control valve and meter at the TransColorado interconnect on Transwestern’s San Juan Lateral. Transwestern allocated the point for Wednesday’s Intraday Cycles 1-3 and said shippers should monitor its Internet site for updates.

The swing market was experiencing only mild aftershocks Thursday following the major earthquakes earlier in the week. Except for some gains in the Rockies, the price path remained downhill everywhere else but the slope was getting less steep. The calm-down was welcomed by traders, since it lessened the stress of price hyper-volatility and also allowed them to focus more on March bidweek business.

Saying it was “experiencing significant linepack loss in the middle of the system while withdrawing at maximum rates from all storage fields,” Tennessee issued an OFO Balancing Alert Friday for all LMS-MA Balancing Parties with meters located in Zones 1 through 4 or in Zone 5 upstream of the Checks (Main Line Valves 245 and 321). Penalties of $15/Dth plus the applicable regional daily spot price will be assessed on shippers whose takes exceed the greater of 500 dekatherms or 102% over scheduled quantities. Penalties will not apply to customers who overdeliver into the system or undertake out of the system, Tennessee said.

With Canada and much of the northern U.S. experiencing deep-freeze low temperatures and a more-of-the-same outlook for Wednesday, the market continued to eke out small, single-digit gains at most points Tuesday.

Boosted by the reformation of Tropical Storm Lili in the Caribbean, natural gas futures shot higher Friday as traders continued to cover shorts ahead of the weekend. Notching a 15.2-cent gain to close at $4.041, November becomes the first prompt natural gas contract to trade above $4.00 since June 2001 when the July contract was leading the market off its $10.10 high.

After experiencing three-straight weeks of lower-than-anticipated storage injections, the bears finally got a break Thursday when the Energy Information Administration (EIA) surprised traders with the news that 59 Bcf had been injected into underground storage facilities for the week ending Aug. 23. Natural gas futures took the news squarely on the chin in early trading as the October contract dropped as much as 22.8 cents in morning action to notch a daily low at $3.175. However, bargain buyers stepped in to lift the new prompt month to a close of $3.25, representing a 15.3 cent drop on the day.