Mirroring

Mirroring actions being taken by the White House, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Monday asked the California Energy Commission (CEC), whose primary role is siting power plants and funding alternative energy programs, to investigate the causes behind the current spike in gasoline prices that has driven regular, self-service supplies above $3/gallon. Schwarzenegger made his request in a letter to CEC Chairman Joseph Desmond.

While mirroring Friday’s slim trading range, April natural gas futures traded at a significantly lower level on Monday. After trading down in Sunday’s Access session, April natural gas opened on Monday at $6.610, put in a high of $6.620 soon after, and set its sights lower for the remainder of the day. The prompt-month contract pushed as low as $6.470 before rebounding later in the afternoon to settle at $6.547, down 24.3 cents from Friday.

Mirroring a similar decrease a month earlier, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. Wednesday again said it expected another big decrease in natural gas utility bills this month, compared to last month, with bills expected to be down 36.8% for residential customers. PG&E’s utility said the average residential bill for March is expected to be $68.05, compared with $107.60 last month, although the cost of natural gas remains 24% higher than it was in March 2005.

Nearly mirroring survey results of other energy analyst groups in recent days, Raymond James said last week that U.S. natural gas production fell 4.2% in the first quarter year-over-year, and “as before, we see no significant near-term catalysts to alter the declining supply picture, and therefore, price rationing remains the only viable option to bring the market into equilibrium.”

Nearly mirroring survey results of other energy analyst groups in recent days, Raymond James said Monday that U.S. natural gas production fell 4.2% in the first quarter year-over-year, and “as before, we see no significant near-term catalysts to alter the declining supply picture, and therefore, price rationing remains the only viable option to bring the market into equilibrium.”

Mirroring an earlier complaint brought against Trunkline Pipeline, a group of natural gas producers and marketers called on FERC last week to order El Paso’s Tennessee Pipeline and Columbia Gulf Transmission to “discontinue immediately” their alleged practice of using multi-year “critical notices” to enforce tougher quality specifications on the gas that they will accept into their systems.

Mirroring a recent complaint brought against Trunkline Pipeline, a group of natural gas producers and marketers called on FERC Wednesday to order El Paso’s Tennessee Pipeline to “discontinue immediately” its alleged practice of using multi-year “critical notices” to enforce tougher quality specifications on the gas that it will accept into its system.

Mirroring earlier quarterly reports of its oil and gas peers, Magnum Hunter saw its income nearly double from a year ago, but actual production numbers were down. While core production grew 7%, the Irving, TX-based independent reported a decline in actual boe production of 8% from 2Q02, which it attributed to non-core property sales in fiscal 2002 and 2003.

Mirroring similar action he took last summer in the face ofskyrocketing wholesale power prices, California Gov. Gray Davis onFriday asked his state attorney general to investigate the recentsevere spike in wholesale natural gas prices at the Californiaborder, where prices are among the highest in the nation. In aseparate action, two class action lawsuits were filed Monday inCalifornia Superior Court, alleging that gas and electricity pricespikes are the result of a four-year-old “conspiracy” by SouthernCalifornia Gas, San Diego Gas and Electric and El Paso Natural Gas.(see separate story)