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A day after filing an application with FERC to build the Pine Prairie Energy Center, a 24 Bcf capacity high-deliverability, salt dome storage facility near the Henry Hub, Sempra Energy announced the purchase of another proposed storage project in the region, Liberty Gas Storage in Calcasieu Parish, LA, from HNG Storage for an undisclosed sum.

Looking to help market participants “manage exposure” to the impact of reported oil and natural gas storage inventories released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) each week, the New York Mercantile Exchange Inc. (Nymex) said Wednesday it has teamed with ICAP Energy, a leading inter-dealer broker, to launch an electronic market in options on oil and gas inventory statistics.

While there is a great degree of variation in how utility holding companies manage the cash of their regulated local gas distribution company (LDC) subsidiaries, generally the ones that maintain separate cash management programs for their regulated LDCs have higher credit ratings, according to a new report from Moody’s Investors Service.

While there is a great degree of variation in how utility holding companies manage the cash of their regulated local gas distribution company (LDC) subsidiaries, generally the ones that maintain separate cash management programs for their regulated LDCs have higher credit ratings, according to a new report from Moody’s Investors Service.

While futures slipped a few cents Wednesday, cash prices managed gains of 5-20 cents mainly on the continuing wide gap between current cash and November futures and the cool temperatures and slightly stronger demand in the Midwest and Northeast market areas.

Four Former TXU Corp. executives, including the former vice chairman and COO of TXU Electric and TXU Gas, have set up shop to acquire, construct and manage natural gas assets in North America. The Dallas-based Estrella Energy LP plans to focus on intrastate and regional interstate pipeline assets.

After initially ducking lower to equal Monday’s $5.16 low, the June natural gas futures contract struggled higher in featureless trading on its first session as prompt contract Tuesday. It closed at $5.236, up 4.6 cents for the session and 7.6 cents off its early low. Estimated volume was light, with 69,391 contracts changing hands.

After falling at a gut wrenching pace last week that left the April contract $1.56 lower than the previous Friday, the near month managed a 7.8-cent gain on Monday to $5.507. In fact, the three nearest contracts — April, May and June — all made gains while the further-out months lost a few cents. Analysts’ opinions were mixed, however, on the near-term and long-term direction of this market, and a war with Iraq is likely to make the future even less clear.

New York retail gas marketers last Friday were given a new tool to manage their daily citygate gas delivery imbalances, but they also could face tougher action by Consolidated Edison if they fail to deliver required supplies.