Never

After last year’s phenomenal earnings growth rate of 26%,UtiliCorp United’s CEO thinks the energy services provider hasnever been stronger, and said yesterday that the company’s diverseportfolio should guarantee earnings of at least 15% for the nextseveral years. Rick C. Green Jr. also stressed, though, thatdiversity did not necessarily mean adding more assets, just doingwell with the ones the company already has.

In the never-ending battle over the boundaries of FERCjurisdiction in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), three Shellproduction companies last week petitioned the Commission for aruling to declare they are exempt from the reporting requirementsunder Orders 639 and 639-A.

In the never-ending battle over the extent of FERC jurisdictionin the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), three Shell productioncompanies this week petitioned the Commission for an orderdeclaring they are exempt from the reporting requirements underOrder 639 and 639-A.

Horace Greeley’s advice to “go west, young man,” has never beenmore true than for independent North American oil and gascompanies, which are claiming stakes in the Rocky Mountains andreaping huge returns from the untapped natural gas reserves thatlie beneath the deep, thick sands in the mountainous, multi-stateregion.

Horace Greeley’s advice to “go west, young man,” has never beenmore true than for independent North American oil and gascompanies, which are claiming stakes in the Rocky Mountains andreaping huge returns from the untapped natural gas reserves thatlie beneath the deep, thick sands in the mountainous, multi-stateregion.

It is often said that markets will fall twice as fast as theyrise and that was never more true than yesterday in the natural gaspit at Nymex. After climbing steadily over the past week to the$4.555 level Wednesday, the market was flushed lower yesterday amida torrent of profit-taking that in turn, triggered a wave ofsell-stop loss orders. Bargain hunting was seen late to stem theprice erosion, but the damage was already done.

Ask two traders about the direction of the natural gas futuresmarket and you will likely get two different opinions, and that wasnever more true than last week when Tom Saal of Miami-based PioneerFutures and Tom Riley of Riley Natural Gas spoke about hedging forproducers at GasMart/Power 2000 in Denver.

The outlook for North American natural gas was “never better”than now, says the top Shell E&P executive. Among the factorsworking in the favor of gas are strong demand from powergeneration, environmental imperatives, integration of the NorthAmerican market, new supply sources and rising prices.

Bulls never had a chance yesterday when natural gas futures werehit with two distinct waves of selling pressure as traders unloadedlong positions. Sources said early options-related liquidation wasreplaced by storage and market-on-close selling in the afternoon,and that was enough to delivered the expiring April contract 6.3cents lower to its final resting place at $2.90. The prompt monthin waiting, May, followed suit by also slipping 6.3 cents to closeat $2.908.