Fell

Former Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to review his convictions. Before Enron fell into bankruptcy in late 2001, Skilling had at various times been COO, president and CEO of the company. A jury in 2006 found Skilling guilty on one count of conspiracy (a joint count with Chairman Kenneth Lay), 12 counts of securities fraud, one count of insider trading and five counts of making false statements to auditors and Enron shareholders (see NGI, May 29, 2006). He was acquitted on nine counts of insider trading. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans in January upheld all of Skilling’s 19 convictions, and a month later the full circuit court rejected a request for rehearing (see NGI, Feb. 16). The appeals court, however, ordered that Skilling be resentenced, which could reduce his prison term of 24 years and four months. The resentencing has not been completed, and until then Skilling is serving his sentence in a federal prison in Minnesota. The New Orleans appeals court said four months ago that Skilling had “failed to demonstrate that the government’s case rested on an incorrect theory of law or that any reversible errors infected his trial.” In its appeal to the Supreme Court, the defense team argues that under a federal fraud statute, prosecutors failed to show that Skilling wanted to advance his interests rather than those of Enron. The defense also contends that pretrial publicity prejudiced the jury and led to an unfair trial. The trial was held in Houston where Enron was headquartered. The Supreme Court could decide to hear or not hear the case before the court’s term is completed this summer.

Former Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling on Monday appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to review his convictions.

With heating load continuing to recede and replacement cooling demand still missing in action for the most part, prices fell at nearly all points Thursday. Although softness had replaced firmness as the dominant characteristic of price movement, near-flat numbers were still in vogue as few points changed by a dime or more.

In spite of cooling trends in the South, Rockies and parts of the Midwest, prices fell at most points Tuesday. The modest addition of heating load and the previous day’s 6.7-cent increase by April futures were largely ineffective in countering overall bearish weather fundamentals.

Cash prices fell virtually across the board Friday, depressed by forecasts of moderate weather in most regions and the previous day’s drop of just over a quarter by April futures. The decline of industrial load during a weekend was an additional, albeit minor, bearish influence.

The domestic natural gas rig count fell by 36, or 3.4%, from a week earlier to stand at 1,018, Baker Hughes Inc. reported Friday. The rig count, now at its lowest level since March 2005, has fallen 37% since mid-September, when there were an estimated 1,606 gas rigs in service across the country and offshore.

Prices fell at all points but one Friday in anticipation of at least a modest break from the arctic cold that occupied most of the East last week. Prior-day futures weakness and the extra loss of industrial load associated with a holiday weekend were additional suppressants of cash numbers. Losses ranged from a little less than a nickel to about $6.20. A gain of less than a nickel at Malin was the exception to overall softness.

As sources had predicted, the cash market fell at most points Friday, pressured lower by warming trends in the Midwest, Midcontinent and South and by the January futures drop of 8.8 cents a day earlier. The usual weekend decline of industrial demand also was a factor in the overall softness.

Cash prices fell at all points Friday, depressed by forecasts of cold weather moderating in some areas by the end of the weekend, a 42.7-cent plunge in December futures a day earlier and the usual weekend drop of industrial load.