Influence

Conectiv Energy Supply, Inc. has purchased the assets of thePennsylvania office of Black Hills Energy Resources, a gasmarketing operation that was a subsidiary of Black Hills Corp. Thepurchase brings Conectiv an office located in Allentown, PA, thatserves more than 300 gas customers in the tri-state area. Thecustomers primarily are industrial and commercial consumers in theUGI, PECO, Penn Fuel, and Columbia of Pennsylvania service areas.

For the second day in a row the futures market probed to eitherside of unchanged yesterday as local traders attempted to influencethe market-first higher, then lower-in choppy, range-bound trading.But for the second day in a row they received little or no helpfrom other market participants, and thus were forced to cover intheir positions before the close. That enabled the October contractto drift quietly lower Monday, closing down 2 cents to $2.781.Estimated volume of 74,785 was well below Friday’s impressive114,000 figure.

Feeding off Wednesday’s weakness and reflecting fading concernsthat any of the three tropical systems would reach the gas-richGulf of Mexico, the futures market tumbled lower yesterday as bothcommercial and speculative traders exited long positions. Theresultant price slide left the September contract just penniesabove its $2.90 low for the week and turned several bulls intoshort-term bears. The prompt month finished 8.2 cents lower at$2.948 shortly after notching a $2.93 low late in the session.

Traders resurrected a phrase they hadn’t been using very muchlately: “following the screen.” Like a rising tide that lifts allboats, the Henry Hub futures contract for September turned in astrong performance Wednesday and spurred moderate firmness in cashnumbers. In the absence of substantial change in marketfundamentals, there was little besides the Nymex pit for cashguidance, a marketer said.

In an attempt to expand its Gulf Coast influence, MidcoastEnergy Resources Inc. purchased Southern Industrial Gas Corp.(SIGCO), a Gulf Coast distributor, Tuesday. Terms of thetransaction were not disclosed.

Lacking any influence from weather or a flat screen, cash pricesranged from flat to down about a nickel Wednesday. Nearly alldeclines were by smaller amounts than the increases that hadpreceded them Tuesday. In one marketer’s view, “Apparently priceswent back down to compensate for Tuesday’s unsupported rise.There’s no weather and no [pipeline capacity] restrictions.”

Nipsco Industries reached the brink of gaining a valuable eastcoast influence Thursday as the SEC approved a merger betweenNipsco and Massachusetts-based Bay State Gas Co. The $780 millionmerger was originally announced in December of 1997. Both sides arereviewing final documentation and no other regulatory matters arepending. Nipsco expects the deal to close today.

The cash market, seeing essentially nothing in the way ofdirectional influence, went into a holding pattern Thursday withfew points straying any further than 2-3 cents on either side offlat. A screen drop of just under a penny was deemedinconsequential, and even though some market areas were seeingnear-freezing temperatures Thursday, forecasts of warmer weatherfor the weekend through the middle of next week tempered any buyingenthusiasm.

The futures market continued to move in a choppy,sideways-trading pattern Wednesday, as traders tried to influence amove outside Tuesday’s broad trading range. But the Decembercontract could only muster a 6-cent range yesterday, which producedan inside day on daily charts. Trade selling set in as Decemberreached its $2.435 high and pushed the prompt month down to itseventual $2.395 settlement price.