Narrowed

High natural gas prices and narrowed spark spreads in some regions hurt the second quarter performance of gas-fired generators, but should benefit the results of companies with exploration and production (E&P) components, according to a report by CreditSights analysts.

Southern California’s port city of Long Beach Wednesday narrowed its list of potential natural gas suppliers to six and will use the next six weeks to determine which companies it wants to pursue in contract negotiation early next year, according to the city’s municipal energy department that supplies gas and water to residents and electricity to city-operated facilities. Long Beach is seeking 10 Bcf of gas annually in one- to five-year contracts. Names of the short-listed suppliers are being kept confidential.

Southern California’s port city of Long Beach Wednesday narrowed its list of potential natural gas suppliers to six and will use the next six weeks to determine which companies it wants to pursue in contract negotiation early next year, according to the city’s municipal energy department that supplies gas and water to residents and electricity to city-operated facilities. Long Beach is seeking 10 Bcf of gas annually in one- to five-year contracts. Names of the short-listed suppliers are being kept confidential.

Following its end of third quarter 2002 board meeting, Piedmont Natural Gas Co. said it has narrowed the company’s earnings loss from the similar period a year ago. The Charlotte, NC-based natural gas distributor posted a net income loss of $9 million ($0.27 per share) for the quarter ended July 31, compared with a net income loss of $16.8 million ($0.52 per share) for the year-ago period.

Unseasonally high natural gas prices have narrowed margins andcaused defaults by unhedged marketer customers, resulting in a$24.4 million second quarter loss for MCN Energy Group’s energymarketing division.

Unseasonally high natural gas prices have narrowed margins andcaused defaults by unhedged marketer customers, resulting in a$24.4 million second quarter loss for MCN Energy Group’s energymarketing division.

Avista Corp. subsidiary Avista Advantage completed a painstakingevaluation of 30 retail energy e-commerce sites and narrowed downthe list to three top power exchanges that can handle aggregatedcustomer loads: Usource via Enermetrix, Excelergy and AMDAX. Avistasaid it intends to conduct a pilot program to evaluate the benefitsof buying power online for end-users using three of its largecustomers with multiple sites.