Often

With two major divestitures nearly completed and a strong liquidity position achieved, the end of an often turbulent transition period for Constellation Energy may be at hand, the company said.

The often reviewed multi-billion-dollar long-term natural gas deals secured in the past four years by major public-sector utilities received another credit review by the two major rating agencies, following a downgrade earlier in February of MBIA Insurance Corp. of Illinois (from “AA” to “BBB+”), a major player in backing the municipal revenue bonds that support the gas buys. Several deals continue to carry “negative” outlooks as a result.

November natural gas futures fell hard and fell often in Thursday’s trading. The 10:35 a.m EDT release of Energy Information Administration (EIA) inventory statistics revealed a healthy 70 Bcf injection, slightly less than anticipated but ahead of last year and long-term averages. November fell 35.8 cents to settle at $6.419, and December dropped 35.8 cents as well to $6.619. December crude oil rose $1.09 to $67.84/bbl.

Energy, often a back-burner issue in presidential campaigns, took center stage last week. Democratic presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois lit the fire when he signaled that he would be open to allowing drilling off certain coastal states as part of a larger compromise on energy policy. This marked a sea change in his position on oil and natural gas production in the federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).

Coming off the holiday weekend, some not-often-seen weakness in crude futures and natural gas futures price resistance at $12 teamed to push June natural gas lower on Tuesday, one day ahead of the contract’s expiration. The prompt-month contract recorded a high of $12.034 just after noon EDT, which triggered a round of selling that left June to finish the day’s regular session at $11.801, down 5.6 cents from Friday’s close.

Defending oil and gas company profits by noting that the money is often reinvested in supply infrastructure, Brian Frank, president of BP Energy Co., North America Gas & Power, told a GasMart 2008 audience in Chicago last Wednesday that the high level of investment up and down the supply chain needs to be maintained in order to keep up with U.S. demand.

Defending oil and gas company profits by noting that the money is often reinvested in supply infrastructure, Brian Frank, president of BP Energy Co., North America Gas & Power, told a GasMart 2008 audience in Chicago Wednesday that the high level of investment up and down the supply chain needs to be maintained in order to keep up with U.S. demand.

As they often are, Northeast citygates were conspicuous in an otherwise close to flat market Tuesday by giving back much of the large gains they had realized a day earlier. Most points saw little change as the Northeast and Midwest are due to see modest warm-ups Wednesday while the South begins turning colder.

Consumers and energy industry executives don’t often agree on the solutions needed to solve U.S. energy challenges, but a survey commissioned by Deloitte & Touche found some surprising areas of mutual understanding.