Plummeted

The September aftermarket got off to a very weak start in most cases Thursday. Nearly all points plummeted by anywhere from 35 cents to 90 cents Thursday as cooling load continued to shrink and Wednesday’s screen dive of nearly 60 cents applied negative pressure on physical prices.

With bearish fundamentals finally in the driver’s seat of the gas market once again, futures prices have plummeted to about $9.50 from a peak of $15.78 on Dec. 13, 2005, and analysts are dropping their forecasts for 2006. Arlington, VA-based Energy and Environmental Analysis Inc. (EEA) now predicts Henry Hub prices will be back to $6.45 by April and eventually will hit $5.50 by October when all the shut-in Gulf gas production has returned.

Beset by negative influences from several directions, prices plummeted across the board Friday with drops approaching or exceeding a dollar in many instances. But hold the phone on those predictions earlier this week that there was almost no chance of a cash market rally between now and the end of the month. One appeared to be shaping up for Monday’s trading.

Beset by negative influences from several directions, prices plummeted across the board Friday with drops approaching or exceeding a dollar in many instances. But hold the phone on those predictions earlier this week that there was almost no chance of a cash market rally between now and the end of the month. One appeared to be shaping up for Monday’s trading.

Mirant Corp. shares plummeted 16% last Thursday to $2.28 following a downgrade to “sell” from “neutral” by Merrill Lynch analyst Elizabeth Parrella. She said the chances are increasing that the company will miss today’s deadline to gain approval from banks of its plan to refinance $4.9 billion of debt.

Mirant Corp. shares plummeted 16% Thursday to $2.28 following a downgrade to “sell” from “neutral” by Merrill Lynch analyst Elizabeth Parrella. She said the chances are increasing that the company will miss its July 14 deadline to gain approval from banks of its plan to refinance $4.9 billion of debt.

El Paso Corp. shares plummeted 22.5% to $6.20 Wednesday in response to a dramatic shift in strategy and drastic financial measures taken by the company because of its seriously weakened financial position. The company said it will cut its common stock dividend by 82%, a larger amount than was expected by some analysts, to provide about $425 million in annual cash flow. It also will sell another $2.9 billion in assets to help provide funds for continuing operations. The company currently has liquidity of $2.6 billion but only about $600 million is cash.

Aquila shares plummeted 35% last Thursday to $2.16/share and fell another 3% Friday to $2.09 by mid afternoon after the company suspended its dividend and announced a loss of $332 million, or $1.85 per share, for the 2002 third quarter, compared to diluted earnings of $69 million, or $0.58/share, in the third quarter of 2001.

Aquila shares plummeted 35% Thursday to $2.16/share after the company suspended its dividend and announced a loss of $1.85 per share for the 2002 third quarter, compared to diluted earnings per share of $0.58 in the third quarter of 2001. Wall Street analysts had been expecting earnings of 14 cents/share for the quarter.