October

October natural gas futures traded in a wide range on Tuesday as bears plumbed support lines before the contract rallied back in the afternoon. The prompt month traded between $6.195 and $6.570 before settling at $6.568, down 8.5 cents from Monday’s close.

An estimated 28.5 million acres of land in federal waters offshore Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama will be offered for lease in October as the Minerals Management Service (MMS) holds the first Central Gulf of Mexico lease sale in its 2007-2012 Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) leasing program.

Backing up its preliminary winter 2006-2007 forecasts from October (see NGI, Oct. 16; Oct. 23), meteorologists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Thursday reiterated once again that this season is likely to be warmer than the 30-year norm (1971-2000) across much of the nation, yet cooler than last year’s very warm winter season. If the forecast holds up, natural gas and power prices during this heating season could soften.

Backing up its preliminary winter 2006-2007 forecasts from October (see Daily GPI, Oct. 11; Oct. 23), meteorologists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Thursday reiterated once again that this season is likely to be warmer than the 30-year norm (1971-2000) across much of the nation, yet cooler than last year’s very warm winter season. If the forecast holds up, natural gas and power prices during this heating season could soften.

If El Paso were to sell ANR Pipeline, as has been rumored since early October, it probably would fetch about $2.7 billion in after-tax proceeds, said CreditSuisse analyst Carl Kirst. El Paso hasn’t commented on the rumors, but Kirst said the demise of the Continental Connector project, which would have fed gas into ANR, competition and low growth prospects in ANR’s upper Midwest market area make such a deal “conceivable.”

If El Paso were to sell ANR Pipeline, as has been rumored since early October, it probably would fetch about $2.7 billion in after-tax proceeds, said CreditSuisse analyst Carl Kirst. El Paso hasn’t commented on the rumors, but Kirst said the demise of the Continental Connector project, which would have fed gas into ANR, competition and low growth prospects in ANR’s upper Midwest market area make such a deal “conceivable.”

Ex-Enron Corp. CFO Andrew Fastow, who was sentenced to six years in prison last month (see NGI, Oct. 2), will be given a day pass through October to allow him to participate in a deposition to prepare for a trial against several of Enron’s former banking partners. Also on Friday, Dynegy Inc. agreed to pay Enron $44 million to resolve litigation issues, a bank settled with Enron for another $20 million, and Enron’s former corporate secretary received probation for helping prosecutors convict Enron founder Kenneth Lay and ex-CEO Jeffrey Skilling.

Ex-Enron Corp. CFO Andrew Fastow, who was sentenced to six years in prison last month (see Daily GPI, Sept. 27), will be given a day pass through October to allow him to participate in a deposition to prepare for a trial against several of Enron’s former banking partners. Also on Friday, Dynegy Inc. agreed to pay Enron $44 million to resolve litigation issues, a bank settled with Enron for another $20 million, and Enron’s former corporate secretary received probation for helping prosecutors convict Enron founder Kenneth Lay and ex-CEO Jeffrey Skilling.

Maintaining Thursday’s momentum, October natural gas futures punched below the psychological $6 level in overnight trading and remained there through the course of Friday’s holiday-shortened session. The prompt month put in a low of $5.820 during the quiet session before settling the week at 1 p.m. EDT at $5.877, down 17.1 cents on the day and $1.467 lower than the previous Friday’s close. The week also saw the September contract go off of the board at $6.816.