Minds

Finding ways to make the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) offshore oil and natural infrastructure more resilient during hurricanes has been on the minds of many in the energy industry over the course of the past year. Now, BP plc has come up with a $100 million plan to build the first-ever undersea fiber-optic cable linking oil and gas platforms. It would improve communications and could eventually alleviate some shut ins.

October natural gas futures traders couldn’t make up their minds on price direction Monday as some pinned last week’s landslide-like decline to news of significant losses at a sizeable hedge fund. After trading within a range from $4.880 to $5.140, the prompt month ended up closing at $4.942 on Monday, down 4 pennies on the day.

With the five-day-old bearish storage report still fresh in traders’ minds, March natural gas futures on Monday — aided by weak petroleum futures activity — continued to explore lower in search of support, seesawing on the psychological $6 level on numerous occasions during the session before finally settling below it.

Lingering concerns in the minds of some investors as to whether American Electric Power (AEP) is facing a liquidity crunch should be eased in the wake of a recently close debt offering by four of the company’s subsidiaries that yielded more than $2 billion in proceeds, a top official with AEP told a gathering of investment professionals last week.

Lingering concerns in the minds of some investors as to whether American Electric Power (AEP) is facing a liquidity crunch should be eased in the wake of a recently close debt offering by four of the company’s subsidiaries that yielded more than $2 billion in proceeds, a top official with AEP told a gathering of investment professionals on Thursday.

More than a few minds may have been changed Monday about the futures market turning south to possibly post new lows this spring. April blasted 22.1 cents higher to $3.021. The daily high was reached in the early afternoon at $3.040. While many are still looking for the market to backtrack later this week, some experts now say that a downturn now will be nothing more than a temporary correction possibly reaching a bottom in the $2.50s.

With electricity price shock still very much on their minds,California’s three major investor-owned gas utilities are alreadygearing up for potential similar shock surrounding natural gasbills this winter as gas futures prices are hovering twice as highas they were a year ago. Wednesday natural gas futures hit anotherall-time high, topping $5.

With electricity price shock still very much on their minds, California’s three major investor-owned gas utilities are already gearing up for potential similar shock surrounding natural gas bills this winter as gas futures prices are hovering twice as high as they were a year ago. Wednesday natural gas futures hit another all-time high, topping $5.