Flexing

Flexing their political clout in the new Congress, Democrats have reintroduced a bill that would designate the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as wilderness, permanently barring oil and natural gas drilling in the area.

In a rare flexing of its disciplinary powers, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week suspended for one year the authority of Enron subsidiary Transwestern Pipeline Co. to negotiate rates based on basis differentials and ordered shipper refunds for excess charges, which at times reached 100 times the maximum regulated rate during the California energy crisis in 2000-2001. The Commission also issued a draft notice of inquiry (NOI) into all negotiated-rate transportation deals that are tied to basis differentials.

Except for a lackluster, slightly lower performance at severalNortheast citygates, the cash market was flexing its muscles like avain pro wrestler Thursday. Price hikes that generally rangedbetween a nickel and a dime dominated the landscape, althoughCalifornia firming was milder except at capacity-constrained Malin.

The screen may have decided to take a breather Monday afterflexing its muscles so impressively last week, but the heated cashmarket showed no signs of settling down. Western quotes stagedtheir by-now-familiar retaking of ground lost over the weekend, andthis time they actually shared in the general bull market by risingin greater amounts than they had fallen on the previous Friday.Eastern points, on the other hand, continued to build on the upwardtrend they had seen all of last week.