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The White House remained mum throughout last week on its finalchoice for FERC chairman, but sources indicate that President Bushcontinues to champion Texas regulator Pat Wood III over currentFERC Chairman Curt Hebert Jr. for the job despite mounting pressurefrom Capitol Hill to keep Hebert.

The White House has remained mum throughout the week on itsfinal choice for FERC chairman, but sources indicate that PresidentBush continues to champion Texas regulator Pat Wood III overcurrent FERC Chairman Curt Hebert Jr. for the job despite mountingpressure from Capitol Hill to keep Hebert.

Kansas City Power & Light Co. (KCPL) threw down its bouquetlast week, canceling its proposed merger with the financiallytroubled Western Resources citing doubts about Western’s growth andincreasing shareholder opposition to the transaction. KCPL canceledthe merger using a stipulation in the original agreement requiringthe merger to have all regulatory approvals completed by Dec. 31,1999. The merger suffered from regulatory delays and never receiveda final okay from FERC.

Kansas City Power & Light Co. (KCPL) threw in the whitetowel earlier this week, canceling its proposed merger with thefinancially troubled Western Resources citing doubts aboutWestern’s growth and increasing shareholder opposition to thetransaction. KCPL canceled the merger using a stipulation in theoriginal agreement requiring the merger to have all regulatoryapprovals completed by Dec. 31, 1999. The merger suffered fromregulatory delays and never received a final okay from the FederalEnergy Regulatory Commission.

Natural gas futures chopped sideways for the second straightsession yesterday as traders were torn between shoulder and wintermonth pricing. While the October contract was limited to a tighttrading range and a 0.2-cent advance to $2.632, the Novemberthrough March strip bounded 4.1 cents higher to $2.978. Estimatedvolume was robust with 110,911 contracts changing hands.

Perched at recent highs and just below contract resistance at$2.19, the May contract was poised to continue higher yesterday.And after opening at $2.17 local buying pushed prices to $2.189 inchoppy trading. But despite the bullish euphoria the market hadbefore the open, locals received little help from other marketsegments early yesterday and were forced to cover their longpositions Tuesday afternoon. The resultant sell-off left the promptmonth down 2.5 cents to $2.144.

After etching what some feel could be the range for theremainder of the April contract’s life with Monday’s $1.69 low andTuesday’s $1.825 high, the market stayed pat Wednesday-tradinginside a tight 3-cent range. And while no fresh fundamental forceswere seen to usher the market in either direction, sourcesindentified a host of limiting technical factors in yesterday’sprice action. The April contract finished up 0.5 cents to $1.795.

As many traders predicted, the futures market continued lowerThursday morning amid a swirl of bearish fundamental factors, whichwere freshly updated Wednesday evening. But the dip wasshort-lived, and afternoon buying bid the spot January contractback up to test resistance, before settling at $1.84, off 0.7 centsfor the day.

FERC staff intentionally avoided responding to technicalquestions about the proposed auction concept that were submitted byseveral gas industry groups prior to a workshop held earlier thisweek, a pipeline group representative charged.