Impacted

Impacted by the lack of lasting cold in many regions of the country as well as bearish performances by the petroleum markets, January natural gas futures following the Christmas weekend plummeted lower towards the psychological $6.00 mark.

Devon Energy Corp.’s production growth is expected to remain on a fast track through the rest of the year, but its oil and natural gas output hit a slight bump when Hurricane Ivan crossed the Gulf of Mexico. Its production dropped 2% in the third quarter compared to the same period last year.

Devon Energy Corp.’s production growth is expected to remain on a fast track through the rest of the year, but its oil and natural gas output hit a slight bump when Hurricane Ivan crossed the Gulf of Mexico. Its production dropped 2% in the third quarter compared to the same period last year.

Naperville, IL-based Nicor Inc. on Thursday reported its quarterly profit took a hit after it took charges to settle a class-action lawsuit. The gas distributor reported first quarter net income of $1.9.6 million (44 cents/share), down from $45.9 million ($1.04) for the same period of 2003.

Up to 800 MMcf/d of capacity in northern Alberta has been impacted by two ruptures earlier this week about 15 kilometers apart on a 36-inch NOVA line (see Daily GPI, Dec. 3). Emphasizing they were only ballpark figures, a pipeline spokeswoman said the segment where the ruptures occurred usually flows 1 Bcf/d but has been restricted to about 200 MMcf/d. An unspecified amount of deliveries were affected, she said. That volume was hard to calculate because presumably customers may have been able to re-source gas elsewhere. Crews are working on the ruptures 24 hours a day, the spokeswoman said, but there is no prognosis yet on when full service will be restored. Pipeline ruptures are fairly rare anyway, she noted, so having two close together within a short time period is very rare. Investigators are evaluating the sites; at this point there are no suspicions of terrorism being involved, she said. In response to the ruptures, NOVA said Wednesday it is operating supplemental compression at Zama Lake to move additional flow from Segment 1 (UPRM) into Segment 3 (NWML). It also is moving additional supplemental compression into the area in order accommodate additional flow in Segments 1, 2, partial 5, 26 and 27. See the bulletin board for other actions and restrictions prompted by the ruptures.

Pacific Gas & Electric did not extend a high-inventory OFO beyond Friday. However, the California market continued to be impacted by a similar constraint as Southern California Gas declared an OFO for Saturday. The utility would automatically reduce volumes for any shipper exceeding a 10% tolerance on deliveries into the system, a SoCalGas spokeswoman said.

Peoples Energy earnings soared compared to year-ago results, which were negatively impacted by one-time charges for uncollectible accounts in its Chicago gas distribution business. Net income for its fiscal 2003 third quarter ended June 30 was $8 million, or $0.22/share, compared with $1.3 million, or $0.04/share, for the prior year third quarter. Wall Street analysts had been expecting 26 cents/share, according to Thomson Financial’s First Call.

Kern River expects its receipts to be “slightly impacted” asAmoco’s Painter Plant near Evanston, WY performs maintenance thatwas to begin Sunday and continue through next Sunday.

“The market is tanking. That pretty well sums it all up in anutshell,” was how a Gulf Coast marketer characterized the pricesituation Wednesday. Only California, where a series of rollingblackouts began in the northern part of the state (see related story), failed to participate infurther price declines that were mostly between about a quarter and 50cents.