Higher

Slightly cooler temperatures in many major eastern marketregions dropped cooling demand a few notches yesterday, but alleyes quickly turned to the northwestern Caribbean Sea whereTropical Depression 11 appeared poised for a weekend visit to theGulf of Mexico.

As Altrade Power nears its one-year birthday, its operator Altrareleased some of the transaction statistics of the independent onlineenergy trading exchange. August saw personal bests being broken by theonline trading platform in power, natural gas liquids, and naturalgas, the company said (see Daily GPI,Oct. 25, 1999).

The Natural Gas Council on Friday warned the ClintonAdministration and Congress of abnormally high natural gas pricesthis winter and requested additional funding for the Low-IncomeHome Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) for low-income households.

The Natural Gas Council on Friday warned the ClintonAdministration and Congress of abnormally high natural gas pricesthis winter and requested additional funding for the Low-IncomeHome Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) for low-income households.

After spiking 7% higher Monday on storm hype, natural gasfutures retraced lower yesterday as traders hedged against thepossibility that the storm will miss the Gulf of Mexico entirely.Before tumbling lower, however, the prompt month was able to carveout a fresh all-time prompt month high at $4.85. The Septembercontract finished on the defensive, down 22.7 cents for the sessionat $4.52.

Following on the heels of a two-day, 44-cent price rally,natural gas futures continued higher as bullish technical andfundamental clues put traders in the buying mode early yesterday.However, after peaking at $4.29 shortly after 11:00 p.m (EST), theSeptember contract chopped lower throughout the afternoon to settleat $4.25.

Fueled by strength in the overnight Access trading session,natural gas prices moved higher Friday morning as traders coveredshort positions acquired during the market’s 30-cent move lowerlast week. However, after peaking at $3.93 in the first hour oftrading, the bears went back to work and were ultimately successfulpushing the market lower on the day. The August contract finishedthe session down 2.6 cents at $3.834 in a session that saw anextremely-light, 48,413 contracts change hands.

After two marketer bankruptcies, slamming problems, continuingbilling problems and higher gas rates, Georgia gas deregulation is”in deep, deep trouble,” Georgia PSC Commissioner Bob Durden saidyesterday in an interview with NGI.

Sierra Pacific Resources announced that higher fuel and powercosts are expected to cause a dip in corporate earnings. Thecompany blamed it’s two Nevada utility subsidiaries, Nevada Power,and Sierra Pacific Power for the estimated $70-80 million in overbudget fuel expenses. “Similar to other electric utilities in theWest, we have confronted an unprecedented and extremely volatileenergy market over the last several months,” said Mark Ruelle,senior vice president for Sierra Pacific Resources. “As a result,we’ve been forced to pay significantly more for fuel and purchasedpower than we had budgeted at the same time that above-normaltemperatures increased the demand for electricity, particularly insouthern Nevada. “We expect fuel and purchased power expenses tohave a negative impact on second quarter earnings and an ongoingnegative earnings impact for the remainder of the year,” Ruelleadded.