Failed

Senate Democratic leaders Friday failed to win the 60 votes that were needed to end debate on the broad energy bill (HR 6) and bring it up for a final vote. The setback sets the stage this week for Senate action on an energy measure that could be a modified version of the one passed by the House last Thursday.

Senate Democratic leaders Friday failed to win the 60 votes that were needed to end debate on the broad energy bill (HR 6) and bring it up for a final vote. The setback sets the stage this week for Senate action on an energy measure that could be a modified version of the one passed by the House last Thursday (see Daily GPI, Dec. 7).

Failed hedge fund Amaranth Advisors LLC says it plans to appeal later this week FERC’s recent decision upholding its assertion of jurisdiction in the natural gas futures market. At the same time, Amaranth and affiliates have asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to stay the enforcement proceedings at the agency pending the court’s review of the jurisdictional issue.

FERC Friday rejected a challenge by failed hedge fund Amaranth Advisors and affiliates to FERC’s claim that it has jurisdiction to sanction manipulative trading of natural gas futures contracts when that activity significantly affects prices in the physical gas market, over which the agency has exclusive jurisdiction.

December natural gas futures pushed north of $8 for a third consecutive session on Wednesday but failed to capture the gains once again. The contract finished out the session at $7.835, down 11.4 cents from Tuesday.

A federal court judge in New York last Thursday denied a plea by failed hedge fund Amaranth Advisors LLC to bar FERC from proceeding with an enforcement action against it until a parallel complaint brought by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is resolved, although he said he believed it would be “prudent” for FERC to defer to the CFTC case. The court left the critical issue of whether FERC has jurisdiction in futures markets unsettled.

A federal court judge in New York Thursday denied a plea by failed hedge fund Amaranth Advisors LLC to bar FERC from proceeding with an enforcement action against it until a parallel complaint brought by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is resolved, although he said he believed it would be “prudent” for FERC to defer to the CFTC case. The decision left the critical issue of whether FERC has jurisdiction in futures markets unsettled.

Canadian exporters suffered a US$1.7 billion revenue hit as marginal volume growth failed to make up for soft prices during the first three quarters of the current natural gas trading year, records of the National Energy Board (NEB) show.

Canadian exporters suffered a US$1.7 billion revenue hit as marginal volume growth failed to make up for soft prices during the first three quarters of the current natural gas trading year, records of the National Energy Board (NEB) show.