Goes

After historically having about one-third of its fuel supplies available right in its own backyard from local production, the port city of Long Beach, CA Tuesday went into the market for up to 10 Bcf of supplies for between one and five years to serve this city of nearly half a million 25 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

The siege of cold weather due this week had traders back in a stocking-up mood Friday as generally flat pricing reigned throughout the East despite the load decline that typically accompanies a weekend. However, a high-linepack OFO issued for Saturday by Southern California Gas, which was experiencing date-specific record warmth in its service area, had reverberations in the rest of the West, sending most regional numbers lower between about 3 cents and a dime.

UBS Warburg Energy started financial energy trading operations last week and completed a partial reincarnation of EnronOnline — now called UBSWenergy.com. The web site was up and running Monday with financial North American natural gas and power products being offered. A spokeswoman said physical products would be made available as soon as UBS is able to complete transportation agreements with gas pipelines and FERC approves the company’s market-based trade authority for power sales.

UBS Warburg Energy said it has started energy trading operations and completed a partial reincarnation of EnronOnline — now called UBSWenergy.com. The web site was up and running Monday with financial North American natural gas and power products being offered, and a spokeswoman said physical products will be made available soon, following regulatory approval.

Given the mild winter, the natural gas piled up in storage and the crippled economy, gas prices are expected to limp along in the $2.00 to $3.00 range for most of 2002, but watch out for the winter of 2003-2004; it could be a real zinger, with prices closing on $4.50, according to projections by Ben Schlesinger & Associates (BSA).

Given the mild winter, the natural gas piled up in storage and the crippled economy, gas prices are expected to limp along in the $2.00 to $3.00 range for most of 2002, but watch out for the winter of 2003-2004; it could be a real zinger, with prices closing on $4.50, according to projections by Ben Schlesinger & Associates (BSA).

IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), one of the fastest growing electronic commodity marketplaces, is going public with its daily natural gas and power price indices, making them available, free of charge, to anyone that registers at www.intercontinentalexchange.com. The company said its index history is also available.

As Sonny and Cher came close to singing, “The heat goes on.” Yet despite another day Wednesday of searing hot weather in key market areas with prospects for more of the same today, the overall market was moderately softer. A screen advance of about a nickel failed to lend support to cash prices.

With the ultimate energy solution dependent on a historic public bond sale targeted for August, the state of California last week got a preview of how Wall Street might view state offerings with the completion of a $1 billion general obligation bond sale. An official close to the State Treasurer Phil Angelides said the state’s banker was generally pleased with the results and optimistic for the $12.4 billion electricity bond sale in August.