Natural

The natural gas futures market made it a ‘perfect ten’ yesterdayby trading within a tight 14-cent range for the tenth consecutivetrading session. The August contract showed promise early, racingout to a strong start and posting a $2.239 high. That, however,would be the best the market could do Tuesday. It then wilted underselling pressure in the afternoon. The prompt month finished at$2.198, down 0.9 on the day.

Consolidated Natural Gas paid a hefty price during the secondquarter for its proposed merger with Dominion Resources. Thecompany took a one-time $165.3 million, $1.12/share, charge relatedprimarily to cash-out of stock options and awards to about 700employees and took another $6.3 million charge, $0.04/share, for aworkforce reduction related to the merger. CNG reported a secondquarter loss from continuing operations of $80 million, or 83 centsa diluted share, compared with income of $46.8 million, or 49 centsa diluted share, a year earlier. The comparison was made worse by a$13.9 million, or $0.15/share, gain in 2Q98 related to a favorableregulatory decision. Excluding special items for both periods,income from continuing operations was 33 cents a diluted share in2Q99, compared to 34 cents in 2Q98. Wall Street consensus had CNGpegged quite a bit higher at $0.39/share.

El Paso Energy’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline and Consolidated NaturalGas’ CNG Transmission jointly unveiled the Atlantic AllianceProject on Monday. If successful, this project will transport up to750,000 Dth/d from Chicago market center and the Niagara ImportPoint into eastern markets.

Gathering and storage assets of Oklahoma Natural Gas (ONG) andKansas Gas Service (KGS) are headed for deregulation, much to thechagrin of the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office. The move evengives pause to one of the three commissioners on the OklahomaCorporation Commission (OCC).

News from major liquefied natural gas (LNG) players Distrigasand Sonat combined with a recent Department of Energy (DOE) reportof a major LNG import increase in the first quarter of this yearmade the headlines last week, but Gordon Shearer, Cabot LNG CEO,told NGI this is about as active as the LNG market is going to get.

Without any impetus to break in either direction, natural gasfutures continued to subsist on a steady diet of range-boundtrading yesterday at the New York Mercantile Exchange. But incontrast to Tuesday’s session, which featured the market closingnear its high trade for the day, Wednesday’s session was dominatedby selling that ushered the prompt August contract down 3 cents to$2.146. Estimated volume was light, with only 44,985 contractschanging hands.

News from major liquefied natural gas (LNG) players Distrigasand Sonat combined with a recent Department of Energy (DOE) reportof a major LNG import increase in the first quarter of this yeardominated headlines Wednesday, but Gordon Shearer, Cabot LNG CEO,told NGI this will be as active as the LNG industry will get forsome time.

Following the lead established late Monday, natural gas futurescontinued higher yesterday day as short-term traders bought intothe rally. The August contract closed up 3.2 cents at $2.176,shortly after notching its $2.18 high trade for the day.

Two producers-Husky Oil Ltd. and Renaissance Energy Ltd.- havejumped into the ranks of top 10 Canadian suppliers of natural gasto the United States, according to a scorecard kept by the U.S.Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy.