Longer

Despite adverse weather conditions during the fourth quarter and full year and lower throughput on its gas pipelines, NiSource beat analysts’ earnings estimates and posted higher net income. Income from continuing operations for 2004 was $1.63/share compared to analysts’ estimates of $1.60/share, while quarterly income from continuing operations was 2 cents more than estimates at 59 cents/share.

Caught between the bullish euphoria surrounding gains in the nearby crude oil pit and the bearish reality of its own short-term fundamentals, the natural gas futures market shuffled quietly sideways Friday. On the technical side of the market the bag was similarly mixed as Friday’s closing prices rang bearish on the daily chart, but bullish on the weekly chart.

Houston-based E&P operator Mariner Energy Inc. officially is no longer an Enron affiliate. The company completed a $271.1 million merger with an affiliate of the private equity funds Acon Investments LLC and Carlyle/Riverstone Global Energy and Power Fund II. Mariner had been owned by Enron’s Joint Energy Development Investments LP (JEDI).

William Massey is no longer a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Congress officially adjourned for the year last Tuesday without the White House signaling its intent to re-nominate Massey for a third term.

William Massey is no longer a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Congress officially adjourned for the year on Tuesday without the White House signaling its intent to re-nominate Massey for a third term.

Unlike the sharp drop and subsequent recovery of natural gas storage stocks in the winter of 2000-2001, today’s low storage levels may be a continuing phenomenon, analyst Stephen Smith said, indicating “embedded tightness” in the system.

Shell US Gas and Power announced it will no longer participate in a plan to build a $1.5 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Vallejo, CA citing problems with scheduling, expansion or cost. However, the Royal Dutch/Shell unit said it may consider building a terminal somewhere else in the state.

Confronted with bullish near-term forecasts and bearish longer-lead weather outlooks, natural gas futures traders chose to side with the latter Tuesday as they quickly took back a lion’s share of Monday’s 12-cent advance. By virtue of its 9.4-cent decline and $4.226 close Tuesday, the January contract again rests near the bottom of the $4.16-48 trading range. The same range has bounded the market’s price moves since Nov. 18.

While current Canadian natural gas prices have dropped, officials who take a longer view described the nation’s natural gas sector as poised for lasting growth, after weathering a spell of turbulence this summer. Natural Resources Canada, in an annual review of the continental gas market, projected further growth of 25% in exports to the United States to 4.4 Tcf per year by 2010.