Opposite

Coming out of the gates in the opposite direction from the previous Monday’s 88.2-cent increase, March natural gas futures began this week exploring lower, reaching a $7.910 low before closing at $7.995 Monday, down 61.8 cents from Friday’s close.

After repeated attempts over the last week to break below and stay below the $12.70 support area, November natural gas on Tuesday went in the opposite direction instead. Going against current fundamental indicators, the prompt month soared to a high of $14.375 before settling at $14.338, a level $1.334 higher than Monday’s settle. November natural gas expires Thursday.

A day after recording double-digit increases across the board, the cash market moved in the opposite direction Tuesday with declines measured in double digits at nearly all points. Heating load continued to recede in northern market areas with very little new air conditioning load surfacing to offset the demand loss, and Monday’s screen drop of 4.2 cents was followed by further softness at Nymex Tuesday.

Expecting it to be the complete opposite of current weather conditions, WSI Corp. said last week that the February-April period should bring cooler-than-normal temperatures generally south and east of a line from Phoenix to Dallas to Raleigh, NC, with warmer-than-normal temperatures to be the rule elsewhere, especially in the northern tier of states.

Expecting it to be the complete opposite of current weather conditions, WSI Corp. said Monday that the February-April period should bring cooler-than-normal temperatures generally south and east of a line from Phoenix to Dallas to Raleigh, NC, with warmer-than-normal temperatures to be the rule elsewhere, especially in the northern tier of states.

Indicative of the continuing stalemate on what to do aboutCalifornia’s chronic power market woes, Sempra Energy’s CEO and thechairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission pushed forsharply different actions at an energy executive forum, “PowerCrisis in the West,” hosted by Massachusetts-based Xenergy.

Just one week after the break-up of the KN/Sempra merger overpoor financials, KN Energy has started action on an intense assetdivestment strategy. The Colorado-based company sold $51 millionworth of various Gulf of Mexico (GOM) assets last week, includinginterests in HIOS, U-TOS and Stingray, to Leviathan Gas Pipelinewhich is controlled by El Paso Energy. The transaction closed June30.

Just one week after the break-up of the KN/Sempra merger overpoor financials, KN Energy has started action on an intense assetdivestment strategy. The Colorado-based company sold $51 millionworth of various Gulf of Mexico (GOM) assets last week, includinginterests in HIOS, U-TOS and Stingray, to Leviathan Gas Pipelinewhich is controlled by El Paso Energy. The transaction closed June30.

Texaco, Shell and Southern California Gas are moving fromopposite ends of the gas business to converge on the developingmarket for distributed generation powered by fuel cells.