The Justice Department is investigating whether officials with the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) played favorites or took money from energy companies bidding on contracts under the agency’s royalty-in-kind (RIK) program.
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Federal Authorities Investigating Interior’s RIK Program
The Justice Department is investigating whether officials with the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) played favorites or took money from energy companies bidding on contracts under the agency’s royalty-in-kind (RIK) program.
Prices for Long Weekend Dive; Frances Shut-ins Small
Thursday’s hint that major weakness in spot prices could be in store played out in spades Friday. Plunges of close to half a dollar were common as the cash market bowed under the oppression of what little weather load it could find fading away in several regions, a day-earlier screen dive that continued Friday, a bearish storage report, Thursday’s news of storage injection opportunities declining further, and of course the extra loss of industrial load during a long holiday weekend.
Unable to Extend Lower, Futures May Have Upside Potential
Increasingly muddled technicals and fundamentals played to a stalemate Wednesday as natural gas futures traders failed to propel prices very far from the $5.00 mark. At the closing bell, the front months made small advances while the winter 2003/04 strip ebbed slightly. April finished at $5.097, up 2 cents for the session on its penultimate trading day. May, which will take over as prompt month when April goes off the board Thursday, notched a 3-cent gain to close at $5.147.
Market Prices Drive Puget Sound Retail Rates Higher
Not enough hedging and abnormal weather on both coasts played a role in driving Bellevue, WA-based Puget Sound Energy (PSE) to announce Wednesday it was filing with state regulators for about a 17%, or almost $10 monthly, retail natural gas rate increase. Only 25% of the Puget’s supplies were locked in at fixed prices last year, a spokesperson said Thursday in an interview with NGI.
Isidore Becomes Hurricane; Hype Still Cited in Price Rises
As Gulf of Mexico producers played the waiting game with what was then still Tropical Storm Isidore, nearly all points were united in upward movement Thursday, with flatness at El Paso-Permian and a few Northeast citygates as the exception. Especially in the East, gains were considerably smaller than Wednesday’s spikes; the overall range Thursday tended to be from about a nickel to 15 cents.
Storage vs. Weather: Call it a Tie at Nymex Friday
Caught between a bullish short-term weather outlook and a bearish long-term storage situation, traders in the gas pit at Nymex played it safe Friday, electing not to press prices too much in either direction ahead of the weekend. With that the February contract finished the session at $2.204, up 1.9 cents for the day, but down 7.1 cents for the week. Estimated volume was a little less than average, with just 75,087 contracts changing hands.
Canadian 88, Canadian Superior Settle Lawsuit
Canadian 88 Energy Corp. and Canadian Superior Energy Inc., involved in litigation over the past several months that played out loudly and often in the press, announced Friday that “all issues and all litigation between them” — including between former Canadian 88 CEO Greg Noval — have been “fully settled.” Noval is now CEO of Canadian Superior.
Barrett Turns Back Shell’s Latest Offer
Denver-based Barrett Resources Corp. again played David to Goliath on Monday, announcing that its board of directors, “based upon opinions that it received from its financial advisers and other factors,” unanimously rejected as inadequate Shell Oil Co.’s $60 per share cash tender offer made last week (see Daily GPI, April 27). The board also recommended that shareholders not tender the Shell offer or grant any written consents that Shell might seek.
Congress Still Fiddling with Electric Restructuring
While Congress played political football with draft electricrestructuring legislation, natural gas pipelines urged legislatorsto take a page from the history of natural gas deregulation andgive FERC enough authority to effectively oversee the nationalelectric grid.