Once

Fueled by gains in nearby crude oil pit, it was up, up and awayonce again for natural gas futures as traders added to their betsthat the market will experience supply woes this winter. As itturns out, that was more than enough buying to propel natural gasfutures to double gains and the second highest prompt monthsettlement price in the commodity’s 10-year history.

Cash prices continued to advance Wednesday with the West onceagain leading the procession, and there was no hint of a setback insight as the screen rose above $5 for October and reported storageinjections remained below par. Crude oil futures also were verystrong, with the October contract settling a dime short of $35/bbl.

California’s once-dominant non-utility electric serviceprovider, Tustin, CA-based Commonwealth Energy, has turned backabout 18,000 commercial customer accounts to their incumbentutilities and is working on a fixed-price retail product to marketto San Diego Gas and Electric customers later this year.

Where once producers’ biggest worry was whether they would get adecent price for their gas, the concern now is whether they canproduce enough to meet market demands.

Where once producers’ biggest worry was whether they would get adecent price for their gas, the concern now is whether they canproduce enough to meet market demands.

A group of natural gas producers has called on FERC to step in and settle once and for all the controversial issue of re-designing the capacity-allocation procedures of El Paso Natural Gas so that “firm” capacity on El Paso would really come to mean firm, and the practice of overbooking firm primary transportation capacity would become history at the pipeline’s SoCal/Topock delivery point into California.

A group of natural gas producers has called on FERC to step inand settle once and for all the controversial issue of re-designingthe capacity-allocation procedures of El Paso Natural Gas so that”firm” capacity on El Paso would really come to mean firm, and thepractice of overbooking firm primary transportation capacity wouldbecome history at the pipeline’s SoCal/Topock delivery point intoCalifornia.

Devon Energy once again showed its knack for timing on Friday bygrabbing Santa Fe Snyder while its stock was undervalued. Devonperformed a similar feat with PennzEnergy just last year (see DailyGPI, May 21). Observers believe this$2.23 billion merger, excluding about $1 billion in debt assumption,could be one of the last this year among large and small producersbecause of the impact of the booming energy market on stock prices.

Energy powerhouse Enron decided to test its mettle once againlast week, offering British metals trader MG Plc $4.46 per sharecash offer in its bid to enter a new marketplace. The bid values MGat $445 million (300 million pounds sterling).