Impressive

Infant online trading system Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)continues to rack up impressive results, posting over 95 Bcf ofphysical gas trading, along with almost 970 Bcf of financial gastrading and 40 million MWh of power dealing in its first six and ahalf weeks of commercial operation.

The Independent Petroleum Association of America won an”impressive” victory when Congress amended the Energy Policy andConservation Act, a victory that may change where exploration andproduction development takes place in the future. The changes, saidIPAA at its recent annual meeting in San Antonio, require theDepartment of Interior to begin a comprehensive inventory ofgovernment-controlled lands on which oil and gas are found.

The Independent Petroleum Association of America won an”impressive” victory when Congress amended the Energy Policy andConservation Act, a victory that may change where exploration andproduction development takes place in the future. The changes, saidIPAA at its recent annual meeting in San Antonio, require theDepartment of Interior to begin a comprehensive inventory ofgovernment-controlled lands on which oil and gas are found.

Adding to gains achieved during Monday’s impressive rebound,natural gas futures erupted higher yesterday as traders bid theJuly contract to a new all-time high for a prompt month at Nymex.After gapping higher to open at $4.65, July checked back and forth,before eventually closing at $4.686, up 12.6 cents for the session.

Despite an impressive bounce Thursday afternoon and strongerover-the-counter trades Friday morning, natural gas futures werehit with a second day of losses Friday as locals deposited themarket lower after finding an intermediate layer of resistance at$4.16. The July and August contracts moved lower in lockstep, eachshedding 2.1 cents to finish the week at $4.043 and $4.022respectively. Estimated volume was 82,698.

Friday’s mild firmness wasn’t terribly impressive following thedazzling display of cash price might the day before, but it didmake last week five-for-five on ever-higher quotes each day.

After gapping up an impressive 2.5 cents at the open yesterday,natural gas futures chopped higher throughout the session astraders grappled with the potential of prices climbing even higherthis summer. The May contract reached its $3.15 high for the dayshortly after 2:30 P.M. (EST), only to tumble lower to settle at$3.137 amid a flurry of market-on-close selling. Estimated volumewas light with only 57,253 contracts changing hands.

Finding little if anything impressive in the way of newinfluences, cash prices in general decided to take it easy Monday.Other than some sizeable western increases, which consisted mainlyof regaining price territory lost on Friday, most quotes were flatto slightly higher. A moderately softer screen combined with hotweather and no sign of an Atlantic tropical storm gave the marketlittle guidance, a Midcontinent trader said. Storage activityseemed little changed from last week, he said.

New Century Energies (NCE) and Northern States Power (NSP), twoefficiently-run but merely mid-sized combination utilities, joinedthe merger parade last week, promising savings, greaterefficiencies and economies of scale. But the horns on Wall Streetdidn’t toot.