Month

FERC ruled last week the six-month suspension of Destin PipelineCo. L.L.C.’s blanket certificate authority does not apply to theconstruction of interconnects for two projects currently beingbuilt in Mississippi.

Having the merry month of May start today gave Friday’s tradingfor the weekend something of a split personality, but except for afew western points there was no need for a psychiatrist. There waslittle appreciable difference between prices for Saturday/Sundayand Monday-only in most cases, sources said.

Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. Inc. initiated coverage ofHS Resources with a “buy” rating and a 12-month price target of $30based on expectations for strong summer gas prices. In a 16-pageresearch report, FBR senior research analyst David Khani identifiedHS as the dominant oil and gas producer in the Denver-Julesberg(D-J) Basin.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is planning to hold a series of”summits” later this month to address the potential for more poweroutages this summer. Three summits are planned for April 24 —Hartford, CT, New Orleans, LA, and in an undetermined northern NewJersey city – with Energy Secretary Bill Richardson scheduled tojet to each one, along with utility executives, state regulatorsand local officials. A follow-up summit will be held April 28 inSacramento, CA. Richardson is expected to address measures thefederal government can take to prevent a repeat of brownouts,outages and price spikes during the summer months. While thesituation may have improved somewhat over last summer, “hecertainly doesn’t think we’re out of the woods yet,” said DOEspokesman Tom Welch.

After trading within a tight, 20-cent range for almost theentire month of March, natural gas futures finally broke throughstubborn resistance just before the closing bell yesterday in alocal and fund led rally. Advancing 7.8 cents to finish at $2.914,the April contract narrowly edged out the 7.6 gain achieved by theMay contract. Estimated volume was moderate with 74,886 contractschanging hands.

New Orleans-based Entergy confirmed earlier this month that ithas been involved in talks regarding a possible joint venturebetween its wholesale electricity trading unit, Entergy WholesaleOperations (EWO), and another undisclosed company. Entergy said ithopes to make an announcement within five weeks. No other detailsabout a possible deal were given.

KN Gas Services emerged as the market leader from thethree-month-long Agricultural Choice Gas Program in Nebraska, as itsigned 36% of the customers who participated in the program. Theresults of the pilot program were released last week by KN Energy.

KN Gas Services emerged as the market leader from thethree-month-long Agricultural Choice Gas Program in Nebraska, as itsigned 36% of the customers who participated in the program. Theresults of the pilot program were released yesterday by KN Energy.

In response to pressure from the market and Nymex, the AmericanGas Association last month announced that it would move forward therelease of its weekly gas storage data. Some traders and analystspredicted the change would increase liquidity, but most observersbelieved it would have little or no impact on the market. In fact,some market watchers even said the early release would decreasevolatility because of the natural efficiencies inherit in Nymex’sopen outcry trading system.