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True to form, Wednesday in the natural gas pit at Nymex had itsshare of price volatility as traders factored the latest storagedata into the market. After a relatively quiet morning, the Octobercontract exploded higher to $5.38 and then tumbled lower to $5.26between 2:00 and 2:10 p.m. As it turned out, the prices produced inthat small trading window held as the prompt month’s daily range.October finished at $5.318, down 4.5 cents for the session.

In the wake of California’s latest round of electricity priceand supply shock concentrated in San Diego, some of the state’smajor energy industry participants have raised the level ofinterest in forward markets and hedging. San Diego Gas and ElectricCo., in particular, has been second guessed about why it did notuse available hedging instruments through the state’s nonprofitpower exchange to help ease the impact of recent wholesale pricespikes on its retail customers.

PG&E Corp. is the latest energy giant to seek a toehold inthe fast-growing Arizona merchant power plant market, gaining aninitial state approval last week, but facing up to a half-dozencounty, state and federal environmental reviews for a proposed $500million, 1,040 MW natural gas-fired plant near Phoenix.

PG&E Corp. is the latest energy giant to seek a toehold inthe fast-growing Arizona merchant power plant market, gaining aninitial state approval last week, but facing up to a half-dozencounty, state and federal environmental reviews for a proposed $500million, 1,040 MW natural gas-fired plant near Phoenix.

Producers and industrial gas customers have filed petitions forreview of FERC’s latest revisions to the natural gas market, Orders637 and 637-A, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District ofColumbia (Case No. 00-1217). (See Daily GPI, Feb. 10 & May18)

Producers and industrial gas customers have filed petitions forreview of FERC’s latest revisions to the natural gas market, Orders637 and 637-A, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District ofColumbia (Case No. 00-1217) (see NGI, Feb. 14 and May 22)

The latest buzz in the oil-patch and on Wall Street is thatindependent producer and marketer Noble Affiliates Inc. of Ardmore,OK, may acquire competitor Ocean Energy Inc. in a transaction thatwould catapult the combined company into the ranks of one of thetop natural gas producers in the United States.

The latest buzz in the oil-patch and on Wall Street is thatindependent producer and marketer Noble Affiliates Inc. of Ardmore,OK, may acquire competitor Ocean Energy Inc. in a transaction thatwould catapult the combined company into the ranks of one of thetop gas producers in the United States.

BP Amoco has become the latest producer to shell out big bucksto settle whistle-blower claims for underpayment of royalties onoil production during the past decade. It has agreed to pay $32million as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice(DOJ), joining the ranks of other oil producers – Mobil Oil ($45million), Oxy USA Inc. ($7.3 million), Chevron ($95 million) andConoco Inc. ($26 million). Two whistle-blowers alleged that BP andAmoco underpaid their royalties prior to their merger. Thecomplaint against BP and Amoco was filed in a federal court inLufkin, TX, where a number of other cases alleging underpayment ofroyalties on natural gas production are pending as well. The DOJalready has intervened in three civil lawsuits accusing affiliatesof ExxonMobil Corp., Shell Oil Co. and Burlington Resources Inc. of”knowingly undervaluing” their royalties on gas, and it hasindicated it is investigating other gas-royalty cases. The twowhistle-blowers who initiated the complaint against BP and Amocounder the False Claims Act will share more than $5.4 million of thesettlement proceeds.