Prevail

From the perspective of one of California’s experts on the state’s supply, demand and infrastructure for natural gas, the advent of an explosion of new interstate pipeline and imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects into the state is proving to be a very pleasurable diversion from the state’s well-publicized real-time energy woes.

From the perspective of one of California’s experts on the state’s supply, demand and infrastructure for natural gas, the advent of an explosion of new interstate pipeline and imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects into the state is proving to be a very pleasurable diversion from the state’s well-publicized real-time energy woes.

As tempers continued to flare between utilities, power marketers and qualifying facility generators in California, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a series of orders in an attempt to douse some of the long-simmering disputes in the state’s crippled wholesale power markets. California power marketers and suppliers prevailed on the key creditworthy and so-called “chargeback” issues, while the California Power Exchange (Cal-PX), the California Independent System Operator (Cal-ISO) and the state’s two troubled investor-owned utilities suffered significant blows.

For the third week in a row, natural gas futures came underheavy selling pressure in the Sunday evening/Monday morningovernight Access trading session, initiating a gap lower open whenregular open-outcry trading resumed Monday at 9:30 a.m. (ET). As itturned out, that was about all the excitement the market couldhandle for one day because prices remained almost unchanged,slipping only 2.9 cents through the session as traders elected toremain mostly on the sidelines. Although the change throughout theday was small, the damage done overnight was significant, demotingthe March contract to $5.821, 38.9 cents beneath Friday’s close.

The effects of the western power crisis will prevail throughthis year and beyond — with the possibility of much more severeproblems and concurrent economic consequences this summer than havebeen seen so far — according to a western energy summit Friday,which included western state governors, top federal energyofficials, and the CEOs of energy producers and industrialconsumers.

The effects of the western power crisis will prevail throughthis year and beyond — with the possibility of much more severeproblems and concurrent economic consequences this summer than havebeen seen so far — according to a western energy summit Friday,which included western state governors, top federal energyofficials, and the CEOs of energy producers and industrialconsumers.

Despite warming temperatures across much of the nation andforecasts calling for more of the same, natural gas futuresrebounded yesterday, as traders covered shorts amid heavilyoversold conditions and ahead of potentially “very bullish” storagedata to be released today.

The Senate unanimously passed two economic relief measures forindependent oil and gas producers last week. The bad news, however,is that the initiatives are part of a supplemental spending billthat President Clinton has threatened to veto because theexpenditures – mostly for foreign aid efforts – would cut intospending for domestic programs that he supports.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is expected to go onthe record this Wednesday with thoughts, but not votes, on thecompeting Independence and Millennium pipeline projects which arevying to be the last link in the new path for western Canadian gasdelivered to the U.S. Northeast.