Impact

Spot prices rode the power generation load-boosting impact of hot weather to further gains Wednesday. With the exception of a couple of flat Midcontinent pipes, quotes were much like the day before in finding a range of about a nickel to nearly 20 cents. The Northeast recorded most of the larger upticks as regional temperatures continued to creep higher.

Looking to help market participants “manage exposure” to the impact of reported oil and natural gas storage inventories released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) each week, the New York Mercantile Exchange Inc. (Nymex) said Wednesday it has teamed with ICAP Energy, a leading inter-dealer broker, to launch an electronic market in options on oil and gas inventory statistics.

Facing an ongoing battle with Alberta regulators over the impact of its gas production on oilsands recovery, Paramount Energy Trust continued to expand its operations outside Alberta Wednesday with a C$148 million purchase of Cavell Energy Corp. The deal increases Paramount’s daily natural gas production by 21% to 110 MMcfe/d, is accretive to cash flow and expands the company’s operations into Saskatchewan.

A leak near Ship Shoal 145B has been isolated and no impact to production was expected, Tennessee said Wednesday.

According to a Lehman Brothers analysis, gas demand hit a 10-year low in 2003 primarily because of the impact of high gas prices on price sensitive end users, such as chemical production companies.

According to a Lehman Brothers analysis, gas demand hit a 10-year low in 2003 primarily because of the impact of high gas prices on price sensitive end users, such as chemical production companies.

Rapidly expanding Crosstex Energy LP, a Texas-based midstream natural gas company, Thursday said it had completed the previously-announced acquisition of the LIG Pipeline Co. and its subsidiaries (LIG Inc., Louisiana Intrastate Gas Co. LLC, LIG Chemical Co., LIG Liquids Co. LLC and Tuscaloosa Pipeline Co.) from American Electric Power (AEP) for $76.2 million.

Issuing its guidance for the company’s first fiscal year with recently acquired North Carolina Natural Gas (NCNG) under its wing, Charlotte, NC-based Piedmont Natural Gas said it expects fiscal year 2004 earnings guidance of between $2.25-2.40 per diluted share.

A recent move by Duke Energy to delay bringing into service a 620 MW power plant in Virginia and a separate decision by a Cogentrix Energy unit to scrap plans to build a 1,100 MW plant in the state won’t effect Duke Energy Gas Transmission’s (DEGT) ongoing Patriot pipeline extension, a DEGT spokesperson told NGI last week.