Minute

After a 25-minute delay in which bagpipes played and traders listened to the reading of the 2,801 names of people that perished a few blocks away one year ago, the natural gas futures market opened solemnly Wednesday as market-watchers and traders went through the motions, but clearly had their minds on things other than the future price of hydrocarbons.

Enron Corp.’s $25 million settlement of a lawsuit filed against one-time rival and 15-minute merger partner Dynegy Inc. was approved in New York City late Thursday by the bankruptcy court overseeing Enron’s massive case. The resolution will free up more than $62 million for Enron, which had been held in escrow since late last year.

After a day’s delay for some last-minute horse-trading, California regulators decided Tuesday to spread a $5.7 billion (3-cent/kW) rate increase to both moderate and large energy users to encourage power conservation going into the critical summer peak-demand period. The increase, which was okayed March 27, takes effect June 1 for Pacific Gas and Electric and June 3 for Southern California Edison with five “rate tiers” tied to consumption levels.

Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-AK) emerged from a 45-minute meetingwith Vice President Richard Cheney yesterday to announce that theRepublican leaders in the Senate will introduce their wide-rangingenergy bill “early next week.”

Energy America pulled off a last minute coup in last Wednesday’sauction for bankrupt Georgia retail marketer Titan Energy’s gascustomers by outbidding Shell Energy Services with a price of $2.5million for 50,000 gas buyers. Energy America paid $44/customer, adollar more than Shell, plus the $7 per customer switching fee.

Energy America pulled off a last minute coup in Wednesday’sauction for bankrupt Georgia retail marketer Titan Energy’s gascustomers by outbidding Shell Energy Services with a price of $2.5million for 50,000 gas buyers. Energy America paid $44/customer, adollar more than Shell, plus the $7 per customer switching fee.

If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute. And that’s exactlywhat the natural gas market will be doing this week followingforecasts calling for the coldest weather of the season togradually move south from Canada over the next couple of days. Buttraders weren’t waiting last Friday as they aggressively coveredshorts and initiated fresh longs in bullish anticipation of thefalling mercury. After gapping up at the open, the January spikedhigher Friday to finish at $2.446, a 16.1-cent advance for the day.

A last-minute concession by the White House on nuclear-wastestorage cleared the way for the Senate on Friday to confirm byunanimous consent Bill Richardson, currently the U.S. ambassador tothe United Nations, as the next secretary of the Department ofEnergy (DOE).