Present

The Commerce Department’s Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA) is taking comments on the impact that recent natural gas price increases (2000 through present) have had and will have on U.S. manufacturing industries. The ESA said in a Federal Register notice on Monday that its inquiry is designed to provide information for a report to Congress that will be done in cooperation with Energy and Labor departments.

The Commerce Department’s Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA) is taking comments on the impact that recent natural gas price increases (2000 through present) have had and will have on U.S. manufacturing industries. The ESA said in a Federal Register notice on Monday that its inquiry is designed to provide information for a report to Congress that will be done in cooperation with Energy and Labor departments.

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee staff has invited 32 groups to present their proposed solutions to the domestic natural gas supply shortfall at a conference to be held later this month.

Responding to an inter-office email in October 2000, J. Robert (Bo) Collins the current head of the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), then employed by El Paso Corp., advised El Paso traders to report only verifiable price information to index developers rather than El Paso’s own “book bias,” according to documents filed in a Houston court case.

Although it “anticipates” a successful renewal and restructuring of maturing credit facilities, Fitch Ratings has lowered the debt ratings on Dynegy Inc. and Dynegy Holdings Inc. to “CCC+” from “B” and also has lowered the long-term ratings of affiliates Illinois Power and Illinova Corp. All of the ratings for the corporation and its affiliates remain on Rating Watch Negative.

Although it “anticipates” a successful renewal and restructuring of maturing credit facilities, Fitch Ratings has lowered the debt ratings on Dynegy Inc. and Dynegy Holdings Inc. to “CCC+” from “B” and also has lowered the long-term ratings of affiliates Illinois Power and Illinova Corp. All of the ratings for the corporation and its affiliates remain on Rating Watch Negative.

Shrugging off medium-range forecasts calling for moderating temperatures, natural gas futures shot to new 22-month highs Wednesday as traders bid the market up in sympathy with stronger cash market prices and ahead of bullish storage data due out Thursday morning. Locals sold on the higher opening, but were then quickly forced to cover their sales as the market continued higher. New longs added to the buying frenzy and the prompt month gained 25 cents in 65 minutes to reach a $5.74 high at 11:30 a.m. EDT. February closed at $5.673, up 24 cents for the session.

Dynegy Inc. apparently is attempting to negotiate a settlement of an investigation of its accounting practices by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Sources told the Journal that lawyers for Dynegy have been discussing a resolution with the SEC, but it was not clear how much progress had been made, or whether Dynegy also was attempting to resolve a criminal inquiry by the Department of Justice.

For retail natural gas choice to recover, several critical ingredients must be present, according to a report by R.J. Rudden Associates Vice President Howard S. Gorman. Residential choice is working well in Ohio, Maryland and Nebraska where meaningful numbers of residential customers participate and marketers are well established, but programs are not doing well in Wisconsin, Massachusetts and New Jersey, where there are only a few participants or marketers, or in Georgia where the program has been disruptive to consumers and marketers. The verdict is still out in New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois.