Managed

Using its back-to-basics approach, and a little help from good weather, CMS Energy reported Thursday that it managed to improve earnings in the first quarter, reaching $79 million (51 cents a share) compared with last year’s quarterly earnings of $42 million (32 cents).

The futures traders who managed to stay alert during Tuesday’s lethargic trading session were able to push the March contract below Monday’s $2.08 low and drop the daily close 4.3 cents to $2.074. But the market remained range-bound with very little fundamental news to prompt significant movement. The high for the day was set just after the opening bell at $2.14 and the $2.070 low was reached just prior to the end of regular trading.

Fired Arthur Andersen auditor David Duncan, who managed the Enron Corp. account in Houston, will be “the man of the hour” at the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations’ hearing Thursday on the accounting firm’s shredding of Enron-related records, said Subcommittee Chairman James Greenwood (R-PA).

The cash market managed to keep up a mildly firmer facade Thursday, but prospects for a weekend crash are fairly strong, sources said. Yesterday’s quotes ranged from flat to either side of a nickel higher in most cases, with scattered points Transco Zone 6 (both pools), Transco Station 85 and MRT registering small declines.

The November contract managed a $2.30 high and a 6-cent increase for the day Tuesday to $2.268 on a short-term cold weather forecast and a little fund buying. The modest market strength, however, is expected to be short-lived, according to several sources who point to few near-term fundamentals to inspire a significant rebound.

The energy industry managed to maintain operations while in a state of alarm last week following the horrific terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center, damaged the Pentagon and left hundreds dead in western Pennsylvania. While no damage was done to energy infrastructure other than to those distribution lines in close proximity to the attacks in New York City and Washington, DC, the experience will serve as a wake-up call to the government and the industry that energy security and reliability issues for once shouldn’t take a back seat to other matters.

The energy industry managed to maintain operations while in a state of alarm last week following the horrific terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center, damaged the Pentagon and left hundreds dead in western Pennsylvania. While no damage was done to energy infrastructure other than to those distribution lines in close proximity to the attacks in New York City and Washington, DC, the experience will serve as a wake-up call to the government and the industry that energy security and reliability issues for once shouldn’t take a back seat to other matters.

The cash market managed one more day of mostly small price gains Wednesday, but based on another 100 Bcf-plus storage injection report from AGA and subsequent screen softening, several sources felt safe in predicting falling cash numbers today.

Except for sizeable drops at non-Malin California points, the rest of the market managed to squeeze a bit more price firmness Thursday out of weather extremes ranging from unseasonably cool temperatures throughout much of the East and record-setting heat in parts of the West. Upticks in the East, Southwest basins and Pacific Northwest were quite mild, only rarely going above a nickel. The Rockies generally were up a dime or more, and Malin soared by well over a dollar.