Fairly

Price declines in most of the market were fairly modest Friday considering the extra demand loss of a holiday weekend and the trends of moderating weather that were expected to keep temperatures mild in the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. this week. The West even saw gains in California and other points outside the Southwest basins as Rockies supply constraints became a concern.

Although it beat consensus estimates by a fairly large margin, higher production by Burlington Resources failed to offset lower commodity prices during the second quarter, as the company reported a 26% drop in net income to $170 million, or $0.84 per diluted share, compared to $231 million, $1.10/share in 2Q2001. Wall Street was expecting about 38 cents per share.

The February aftermarket got off to a fairly strong start Thursday with swing quotes up a few cents from end-of-January levels in most cases and generally about 15-20 cents ahead of apparent monthly indexes.

Energy stocks fared fairly well yesterday — i.e. losses were moderate — during the first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange following the terrorist attacks last Tuesday that left a gaping hole in New York City’s financial district. There were only a few companies that escaped red ink, but the across-the-board losses for the most part stayed in the moderate range.

The August aftermarket got off to a fairly strong start Tuesday. Most points ranged from about a nickel to as much as a quarter above end-of-July numbers, although a few scattered points registered moderate declines. Advances over apparent August indexes also ranged from just a few cents to more than 20 cents in many cases, but the Rockies/San Juan market tended to be as much as half a dollar over index on several pipes.

It failed to shock anyone when June-ending prices fell fairly hard at nearly all points. Virtually all traders did Thursday deals for flow through Saturday, eliminating the hassles of split nomination periods over a June/July bridging weekend.

The cash market began what several sources believed could be a fairly lengthy period of downward price consolidation Wednesday. Numbers generally fell between a dime and 20 cents in eastern markets and at Permian Basin/Waha and Pacific Northwest points, while other western prices took an even heavier beating.

Traders returned to a fairly quiet market Monday in which prices increased by about a dime or less at most eastern points but by considerably larger amounts in the West. California was heating up rapidly and registered triple-digit recoveries from weekend softness.

Weekend price drops were large in the West but fairly moderate at eastern and Permian/Waha points. Declines were in double digits Friday in the Rockies/San Juan/Pacific Northwest and in triple digits at all California points except Malin (which was nearly a dollar lower) as a West Coast heat wave receded and PG&E issued another OFO (see Transportation Notes). But in the East quotes tended to range from flat to down about a dime, and scattered points registered tiny gains.