Buoyed by a much firmer screen and the pickup in load thatfollows a long Labor Day weekend, cash prices rose Tuesday by anickel or more at almost every point, with most of the increasesexceeding a dime. Not only did natural gas futures rise more than adime, but the crude oil futures contract for October also flexedits muscle with a jump of slightly over 60 cents, placing it wellabove $22/bbl, a marketer pointed out.
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With Fundamentals Away, Technicals Rule the Day
Whether the cash market follows the futures screen or vice-versais the source of considerable conjecture and debate in the naturalgas market-almost on a daily basis. Although there have been timeswhen futures have been the driving force in the market, many feelthat cash prices, egged on by solid heating demand, have liftedfutures prices out of the doldrums this month.
Houston Industries Gives Nod to Gas-Power Convergence
The move by Houston Industries (HI) last week to reconfigure itsbusiness to meet the demands of gas and power convergence followsrecent actions to build up its power generation division. HI formedHouston Industries Wholesale Energy Group to combine its powergeneration, gas transportation, and wholesale energy trading andmarketing capabilities of the company.
FERC Follows Up With Other Colorado Projects
FERC turned the heat on pipeline competition in the Colorado andWyoming markets up a notch or two last week when it gave KNWattenberg Transmission the go-ahead to start work on its proposed109-mile Front Runner pipeline project, and gave competitorsWyoming Interstate (WIC) and Colorado Interstate Gas (CIG) thegreen light to carry out the construction of new compression andmetering facilities.
Cash Follows Screen Up, Supported by Texas Heat
People saw the screen start higher Monday morning and “everybodywas off to the races,” a Midcontinent marketer said. Priceincreases were across the board but by widely varying amounts, evenamong neighboring pipes in a region. Everything basically followedthe Henry Hub futures contract, according to a Northeast trader.However, he and other sources agreed that virtually every point wasbacking off near the end of activity. “People just quit buyingafter the screen run-up,” he said.