Inspired

British Columbia, formerly notorious for erecting rigid regulatory barriers inspired by environmental critics, is now vowing to keep its promise to make its gas-rich northeastern corner more accessible. The BC Oil and Gas Commission is inaugurating a new era of “performance-based” regulation this fall, initially with liberalized procedures for pipeline projects.

Thursday’s bullish storage report and the screen spike that it inspired obviously had more influence on cash market thinking than some sources had suspected. The prior-day futures strength trumped weakening weather fundamentals and the usual weekend drop in industrial load to send prices higher at nearly all points Friday.

The end of a major supply constraint depressed Rockies/Pacific Northwest quotes, but the rest of the market added to Wednesday’s small gains with ones that often were slightly larger Thursday. A soaring natural gas screen following the storage report is expected to keep the general bullish streak going Friday, possibly even igniting a rebound in the Rockies.

Following Monday’s strong launch, this week’s northern heat-inspired bull market appeared to be running out of steam quickly Tuesday when a moderate bias to the downside dominated an overall leveling off of cash prices. Several scattered small gains were outweighed by flat showings and losses ranging up to nearly 20 cents.

Western points, which had shown firmness in the face of an overall weaker market Wednesday, got back in step with the East Thursday in registering flat to moderately lower numbers. Declines reached as much as 15 cents. But despite a widely acknowledged lack of fundamental weather support, NGI sources expect Thursday’s screen spike following the storage report to be sufficient for generating higher weekend prices Friday.

In another case inspired by the added information flowing from ongoing federal and state investigations, Reliant Energy and others were targeted last week in a Los Angeles law firm’s class action lawsuit , alleging a “massive conspiracy” to manipulate wholesale natural gas prices through bankrupt Enron Corp.’s now-defunct online energy trading operation.

Except for OFO-inspired upticks in Northern California, the restof the cash market was on a downhill track Tuesday following theholiday weekend. Most declines were in the range of 20-30 cents,but tended to be larger in the Northeast and got as high as about70 cents at the Southern California border.

Canadian producers, inspired by optimism about continued growthin exports to the United States, have staked new claims on northernnatural gas drilling prospects and taken a step into Alaska. TenCalgary-based gas developers secured 2,950 square miles of resourcerights in the central Mackenzie Valley district of the NorthwestTerritories.

Canadian producers, inspired by optimism about continued growthin exports to the United States, have staked new claims on northernnatural gas drilling prospects and taken a step into Alaska. TenCalgary-based gas developers secured 2,950 square miles of resourcerights in the central Mackenzie Valley district of the NorthwestTerritories.