Intense

With a top-notch team in place to find and produce natural gas and an intense determination to pursue and create value for shareholders, Canadian Hunter CEO Steve Savidant said last Thursday that his company may go after some of the “significant and substantial opportunities” he expects to see in the next few months. With almost no debt currently, Savidant said, “we intend to keep the powder dry,” but “there are acquisitions on the radar.”

With various energy players attempting to seize the moment ofintense political and regulatory focus during the first two weeksof December, California electricity proposals are flowing freerthan movie scripts and dot.com start-up business plans are allanticipating the impending state plan from Gov. Gray Davis onFriday and the subsequent final decision by the Federal EnergyRegulatory Commission Dec. 13 for stabilizing California’s powermarkets.

While El Paso’s new agreement covering 1.2 Bcf/d of its firmtransportation capacity is likely to draw intense public andregulatory scrutiny, it may not be able to overshadow the growingconcern over its capacity allocation procedures. Despite someconcerns that revisiting the issue could undermine the recentlyapproved major settlement, more existing shippers have come forwardclaiming huge losses due to El Paso’s overbooked pipeline.

While El Paso’s new agreement covering 1.2 Bcf/d of its firmtransportation capacity is likely to draw intense public andregulatory scrutiny, it may not be able to overshadow the growingconcern over its capacity allocation procedures. Despite someconcerns that revisiting the issue could undermine the recentlyapproved major settlement, more existing shippers have come forwardclaiming huge losses due to El Paso’s overbooked pipeline.

Just as what could be remembered as one of the most intensehurricanes ever to make landfall on U.S. soil gradually turned tothe north and away from production assets in the Gulf of Mexico,natural gas futures turned south yesterday as traders priced stormconcerns out of the market. After gapping lower to open at $2.69the October contract never looked back, tumbling 14.5 cents on theday to finish at $2.636.

With a strong push from the leading producer offshore ofCanada’s East Coast, an intense development effort is under way ona new marine technology intended to tap natural gas on the GrandBanks of Newfoundland sooner than anyone now thinks possible.Andrew Adams, vice-president in charge of Mobil Oil Canada’sNewfoundland exploration and production business unit, told anindustry conference in St. John’s the technique “looks like it hasgreat potential.”

With a strong push from the leading producer offshore ofCanada’s East Coast, an intense development effort is under way ona new marine technology intended to tap natural gas on the GrandBanks of Newfoundland sooner than anyone now thinks possible.Andrew Adams, vice-president in charge of Mobil Oil Canada’sNewfoundland exploration and production business unit, told anindustry conference in St. John’s the technique “looks like it hasgreat potential.”

A continuation of intense heat in the Eastern U.S. lentfundamental support to gas markets in the region Friday, keepingcash prices flat to slightly higher or lower for the weekend.Again, though, it was a case of “not so” in the San Juan Basin,Rockies and California. Although east-of-California markets sawhigh temperatures approaching or surpassing 100 degrees, a dearthof demand from the Golden State and the unrealized threat of an OFOon El Paso caused gas to back up into the San Juan-Blanco pool,resulting in a steep dive of nearly 30 cents. One source, whopicked up an early Blanco package at $1.78, about a dime down fromThursday, paid only $1.59 near the end of trading.