Despite finally convincing Columbia Energy Group to completelyreverse its position and sell-out for about $72/share, $2/shareless than the previous tender offer, NiSource Inc. still faces asteep uphill battle to get the transaction approved by shareholdersand regulators, and to finance the deal, according to investmentbankers.
Outlook
Articles from Outlook
Gas Outlook: It’s Demanding
Socrates did not say “an unexamined energy industry is not worthrunning.” But he might as well have. As long as there is gas andoil in the ground, it seems, there will be those willing to poreover statistics and share their findings.
Unocal Sees Production Rising More Slowly
Unocal Corp. said it expects worldwide average net oil and gasproduction to rise 44% to nearly 700,000 Boe/d by 2004. The updatedoutlook reflects a 7.6% annual growth in net worldwide productionfrom an estimated 485,000 Boe/d in 1999. Net Lower 48 U.S.production is expected to rise 44% to an estimated 237,000 Boe/d in2004.
Prices Flatten Out But Market Outlook Still Bearish
Despite consensus that the latest storage and weather news has beenbearish, the cash market did little more than march in place Thursdaywith only slight gains dominating at the great majority of points. Asmidgen of softness showed up in the Southwest basins, and theRockies, largely because of El Paso having lifted a low-linepack OFOlate Wednesday afternoon (see Daily GPI, Jan. 6).
Transportation Notes
Pacific Gas & Electric said Friday it was working to resolveproblems with the OFO/EFO Outlook and System Inventory Status linkson its Pipe Ranger web site, hoping to restore them to operationSunday. Meanwhile, the utility assured shippers that no OFO hadbeen called for Saturday.
Price Increases Can’t Stem Bearish Outlook
For the most part yesterday cash prices carved out increases asTropical Storm Harvey lent some support to the East and maintenanceissues helped strengthen prices along the West Coast and Rockies.Yet mild weather nationwide, the expected American Gas Associationstorage report of higher-than-normal injections and a weak futuresscreen were traders’ main topics of conversation yesterday. And thegeneral consensus is that cash price increases may be hard to comeby for the next few days.
EIA: Warming Trend Will Lower Gas Demand
The EIA said its “Short-Term Energy Outlook” will reflect netreductions in projections for energy demand due to the agency’sadoption of the National Oceanographic and AtmosphericAdministration’s (NOAA) weather premises of a three-decade longwarming trend. The report is set to be published Sept. 7.
Speculative Sell-off Tests Bulls Resolve
Follow-through on the heels of Monday’s Nymex strength gave bulltraders an optimistic outlook early yesterday. However, theireuphoria was short-lived when a combination of fund and localselling pushed the market down near stubborn support at $2.205.June trimmed its losses into the close, finishing 6.6 cents lowerat $2.236.
Bearish Results do not Hinder Bullish Outlook
Normalizing weather caused cash prices at most points to drop afew cents to nearly a dime yesterday with the Chicago pointsaccruing the largest losses, but the downturn failed to abatemarketers’ optimism, which was buoyed by a new six- to 10-dayforecast calling for below-normal temperatures for a large portionof the nation.
Salomon Sees 522 Bcf Storage Surplus by April
In its weekly outlook on gas storage levels, Salomon SmithBarney (SSB) raised its forecast of expected storage levels at theend of the winter heating season by 117 Bcf from the previous week.The firm, which has grown increasingly bearish because of theclimbing storage surplus, now expects there to be 1,423 Bcf ofworking gas in storage on April 3, which would be 522 Bcf more thanthe four-year average on that date and 364 Bcf more than the sametime last year. Working gas levels in storage as of Feb. 12 were at1,887 Bcf, which is 462 Bcf more than last year on the same date,according to the American Gas Association (AGA).