Forming

Erasing any question about the market forming a top earlier this week, September natural gas futures on Wednesday afternoon soared to new levels. Taking a cue from the rampaging petroleum complex, the natural gas prompt month broke through the psychological $9 level to trade at a high of $9.09, and that was in the last two minutes of the regular session.

The major associations serving the natural gas and oil industries are in the process of forming a coalition to deal with public debate heating up over the number of proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminals being built around the nation and the growing amount of imported LNG bent on entering the U.S. marketplace to capture soaring market values.

Local opposition was already forming earlier this week along the Southern California coast in response to Houston-based Crystal Energy LLC’s $125 million proposal to transform an offshore oil platform in federal waters 11 miles off the coast of Oxnard, CA, into a liquefied natural gas receiving terminal that would pipe gas to shore through a new underwater pipeline. The gas would come onshore near the Reliant Energy’s coastal Mandalay Bay Power Plant.

The recent forecast by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of an El Nino event forming in the equatorial Pacific Ocean has many energy market forecasters scrambling to size up the potential impact. But Weather Services International (WSI) said there is very little chance that El Nino will alter weather patterns this summer. The most likely scenario shows an impact late in the fall and in the winter.

The City of Corona, CA, earlier this month took a step forward in its plans to form a municipally-owned utility after the city council unanimously passed a resolution in support of creating such an entity. However, a final decision on whether to proceed with the project, including the construction of two new power plants, will not be made until a detailed economic analysis is completed over the next six to eight weeks, according to George Hanson, a power utilities and project manager recently hired by the city.

The battle lines are forming as competition for recognition as the top online energy trading platform heats up. The Energy Trading Platform Holding Company (ETPHCo.), comprised of six of the leading power and natural gas trading companies, has entered into a deal to purchase an interest in Atlanta-based IntercontinentalExchange, which claims to be the world’s largest Internet-based, over-the-counter (OTC) marketplace for energy and metals.

The battle lines are forming as competition for recognition asthe top online energy trading platform heats up. The Energy TradingPlatform Holding Company (ETPHCo.), comprised of six of the leadingpower and natural gas trading companies, has entered into a deal topurchase an interest in Atlanta-based IntercontinentalExchange,which claims to be the world’s largest Internet-based,over-the-counter (OTC) marketplace for energy and metals.

EnronOnline significantly expanded its reach yesterday byforming alliances with HoustonStreet.com and TrueQuote.com, twoenergy trading platforms. Enron signed memorandums of understandingwith both companies to extend EnronOnline pricing for NorthAmerican natural gas and electricity to both.

Orlando, FL-based Siemens Westinghouse Power and San Antonio,TX-based Chromalloy Gas Turbine Corp., a subsidiary of Sequa Corp.,are forming a joint venture effective June 1 to support the growthof the Siemens gas turbine fleet. Siemens owns 51% of the venture,and Chromalloy owns 49%. The new enterprise, a U.S. company calledTurbine Airfoil Coating & Repair LLC (TACR), will provide forthe repair of Siemens industrial gas turbine blades and vanes, thecoating of repaired components, and the coating of new Siemensindustrial gas turbine blades and vanes for manufacturing andservice needs around the world. Headquartered in Middletown, NY,the venture will operate from existing Chromalloy installations inMiddletown and in Dallas, TX, and from an existing Siemens facilityin Berlin, Germany.