Fact

Despite the fact that it has been awarded similar contracts, GasNatural Mexico charged last week that Mexico’s anti-trustcommission will not allow it to participate in an auction for amulti-million dollar natural gas distribution contract. Thecontract, scheduled to be awarded on June 21 by the ComisionReguladora de Energia (CRE), calls for a $100 million investment inthe heavily populated Guadalajara metropolitan area. Nearly 4million live there, and the Guadalajara contract will be one of thelargest issued by the government for natural gas distribution.

Despite the fact that it has been awarded similar contracts, GasNatural Mexico charged last week that Mexico’s anti-trustcommission will not allow it to participate in an auction for amulti-million dollar natural gas distribution contract. Thecontract, scheduled to be awarded on June 21 by the ComisionReguladora de Energia (CRE), calls for a $100 million investment inthe heavily populated Guadalajara metropolitan area. Nearly 4million live there, and the Guadalajara contract will be one of thelargest issued by the government for natural gas distribution.

Building more greenfield natural gas pipelines to the Northeastis not the answer. In fact, widespread switching from distillateoil to natural gas will not shield the region’s energy customersfrom a repeat of the heating oil price shocks that they experiencedearlier this year. If anything, it could aggravate prices not onlyfor distillate oil but for gas, the Energy InformationAdministration (EIA) said in a report issued last Wednesday.

Building more greenfield natural gas pipelines to the Northeastis not the answer. In fact, massive switching from distillate oilto natural gas will not protect the region’s energy customers froma repeat of the heating oil price shocks that they experiencedearlier this year. If anything, it could aggravate prices not onlyfor distillate oil but for gas, the Energy InformationAdministration (EIA) said in a report issued yesterday.

“Buy the rumor, buy Access; then sell on Thursday,” was onetrader’s variation on the almost clich‚ “buy the rumor, sell thefact” trading strategy. However, that variation would have beenprofitable considering the market’s price action both before andafter the release of the storage report Wednesday evening. Afterbounding as much as a dime higher in the regular open outcry andAccess trading sessions Wednesday, the futures market was shuffledlower yesterday. The July contract finished at $2.397, off a pennyfor the session.

The Internet has spawned a revolution in the way business isdone that will not ignore the energy industry. In fact, the energyindustry is among the top businesses that will be impacted by theincreased use of the Internet for all types of transactions, saidSteven Bell, an analyst covering business trade and technologystrategies service for Forrester Research.

Analysts were not surprised by Monday’s announcement that DuPontintends to sell its stake in Conoco. In fact, some wondered whattook the company so long. “That’s something they’ve [talked about]for a long time and they’re finally acting on that,” said CarolFreedenthal of Houston-based Jofree Corp. “I guess they’ve just gotbetter places they can put their money than the oil and gasbusiness.”