Life

After tumbling to a new two-week low Tuesday, natural gasfutures roared back to life Thursday and Friday as traders wereforeced to cover their newly acquired short positions. With thatthe February contract was able to take back a dollar of lastTuesday’s record-breaking $1.411 sell-off, finishing the week at$9.261.

Fueled by constructive storage data and higher Access andover-the-counter prices, natural gas futures continued higheryesterday, as traders continue to exhibit a seemingly insatiableappetite for long positions. The June contract advanced 16.3 centsto close at $4.236.

After etching a new life of contract high at $3.025, the Maycontract was hit with a wave of selling yesterday that demoted itback down to settle at $2.971, even with Friday’s close. Volume wasweak with just 51,445 contracts changing hands.

Ending a two-day slide, natural gas futures snapped back to lifeFriday as traders were drawn back to the long side of the market bysupportive technicals and stronger weekend cash prices. In just itssecond day as the prompt contract, May advanced 7.2 cents to finishat $2.945, just a penny off its high for the day and just 6 centsof its all-time high notched last Tuesday.

FERC last week told Columbia Energy Group to check the lifesigns of the $650 million Millennium Pipeline project and provide adiagnosis within 20 days so the Commission can complete work on theproject’s final enviromental impact statement. The 442-mile projectwould bring about 714 MMcf/d of gas from Canada under Lake Erie tothe New York metropolitan area.

Hoping to inject life into its dwindling stock price, CMS EnergyCorp. announced drastic measures last week, including an aggressivestock buy-back plan and intentions to create a tracking stock forthe jewel in CMS’ crown — Consumers Energy.

Hoping to inject life into its dwindling stock price, CMS EnergyCorp. announced drastic measures yesterday, including an aggressivestock buy-back plan and intentions to create a tracking stock forthe jewel in CMS’ crown — Consumers Energy.

Some 11th-hour life has been pumped back into a proposal forallowing gas distribution competition in an industrialized part ofthe East San Francisco Bay. Two members of the five-memberCalifornia Public Utilities Commission have proposed an alternativeto the Western Gas Resources pipeline proposal, which would servecustomers inside Pacific Gas & Electric’s franchise territory.The CPUC is scheduled to take up competing approaches when it meetsNov. 4 in San Francisco.

Following one of the quietest trading sessions in recent memoryThursday, the futures market snapped back to life Friday as tradersetched out a wide, 20-cent range in bumpy, pre-weekend dealings.After trading as low as $2.55 and as high as $2.76 the Novembercontract finished the week strongly, gaining 5 cents to $2.692.Estimated volume of 79,860 confirmed the heavy activity.