Falls

What a difference a week can make. Just seven days after spiking to new 17-month highs, the natural gas futures market fell back down to match recent lows Thursday following news that a greater-than-expected 33 Bcf was injected into storage last week. The November contract closed at $4.133, down 12.7 cents for the session.

Cash prices moved sharply lower on Friday for the Columbus Day weekend despite the surprisingly rapid rise in the natural gas futures market. While November futures ended the day up more than 30 cents, mild weekend weather and weak demand left cash with nowhere to go but down. Most points tumbled 10-20 cents, which put many locations back down near bidweek levels.

FERC’s proposed rule to limit intra-corporate cash transfers, although a step in the right direction, does not provide a regulated energy subsidiary with a sufficient amount of “insulation” from its cash-strapped parent company to justify awarding the regulated entity a separate credit rating, according to Standard and Poor’s (S&P) credit analyst Todd Shipman. Even if it did provide the insulation, the Commission’s past record of “sluggish response” doesn’t instill much confidence that the agency will actively enforce the rule, he said last week.

FERC’s proposed rule to limit intra-corporate cash transactions, although a step in the right direction, offers regulated energy subsidiaries little in the way of protection from parent companies that are financially strapped, according to Standard and Poor’s (S&P) credit analyst Todd Shipman. And the Commission’s past record of “sluggish response” doesn’t give him much confidence that the agency will actively enforce it, he said.

A six-page list released by the White House last week identifying numerous contacts between Bush administration officials and former energy giant Enron Corp. “does not by a long stretch” comply with the Senate’s subpoenas for more exhaustive records and documents, said a spokeswoman for Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT).

The White House’s six-page list released Wednesday identifying numerous contacts between Bush administration officials and former energy giant Enron Corp. “does not by a long stretch” comply with the Senate’s subpoenas for more exhaustive records and documents, said a spokeswoman for Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT).

Great Lakes Gas Transmission experienced a rupture Friday morning on one of its dual pipelines downstream of the Crystal Falls (MI) Compressor Station. Gas flow on the parallel line was shut in immediately but restored that afternoon. Repair of the ruptured line is under way, Great Lakes said Monday. It continues to implement operational arrangements with interconnecting upstream and downstream pipelines in order to maintain firm delivery commitments.

Houston-based Dynegy Corp.’s stock continued to steadily fall Monday despite the company’s move to shore up its balance sheet in the wake of the downgrade in its bond rating last week by Moody’s Investment Service to one notch above junk.

A moderate spreading of chillier weather helped keep most eastern points nearly flat, but ranging from about a nickel higher to a dime lower Tuesday. There was a mild bias to the slightly softer side. Meanwhile, despite a new storm moving into the generally sparsely populated upper regions of the West, softening by a nickel or more dominated there.