Penetrate

On one side of the country, ExxonMobil Corp. CEO Rex Tillerson Thursday cast doubts on whether natural gas stands much of a chance to penetrate the U.S. transportation market (see Daily GPI, March 12). Meanwhile, at the annual CERAWeek conference in Houston, auto and energy executives mostly expressed pessimism about how big the market might become.

On one side of the country, ExxonMobil Corp. CEO Rex Tillerson Thursday cast doubts on whether natural gas stands much of a chance to penetrate the U.S. transportation market (see Daily GPI, March 12). Meanwhile, at the annual CERAWeek conference in Houston, auto and energy executives mostly expressed pessimism about how big the market might become.

With freezes expected to penetrate much of the South Wednesday night and not lightening up much Thursday, there was plenty of cold weather to go around in sending cash prices skyrocketing Wednesday. Triple-digit gains were recorded across the board, and several points soared by $3 or more. The impact on NGI’s Daily Cash Market price chart was significant, with $9 and $10 readings replacing the $7 and $8 marks that dominated trading Tuesday.

In its second major announcement in less than three months, Russian super major Gazprom has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Houston-based ConocoPhillips to study development of the Shtokman natural gas field in the Barents Sea. Under the agreement, Gazprom eventually may supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to import terminals in the United States.

While calling for slightly cooler-than-normal temperatures over the next three months in the Southeast, mid-Atlantic, Northeast, and Gulf Coast states, Billerica, MA-based WSI Corp. looks for warmer-than-normal temperatures elsewhere, with the largest positive temperature anomalies in the Southwest.

Blaming a “necessary” investment to penetrate Georgia’sderegulating gas market, Scana Corp. posted 1998 fourth quarterconsolidated earnings of $31 million or $0.30 cents per share, downfrom $59 million or $0.55 cents per share for 4Q97. For the year,however, Scana Corp. increased consolidated earnings from $221million or $2.06 per share in 1997 to $223 million or $2.12 pershare for 1998.