Profits

Despite rising profits due to higher oil and natural gas prices, Rapid City, SD-based Black Hills Corp. announced that net earnings for the quarter remained near flat due to an accounting charge. The company posted $14.1 million, or 52 cents per share for the qaurter, compared with earnings of $14 million, or 52 cents per share for the same quarter last year.

BP p.l.c. reported record first quarter results of $3,729 million compared with $1,582 million a year ago, a 136% increase, spurred by a large jump in exploration and production’s volumes and prices, and increases across the board in natural gas and power trading, oil refining and chemicals.

Abandoned chemical engineering projects, an exit from its forestry business and other asset impairments pushed Oklahoma City-based independent Kerr-McGee Corp. to a loss in the fourth quarter of 2002. For Occidental Petroleum Corp., however, strong production volumes and higher commodity prices helped the Los Angeles-based independent move into the black for the quarter.

Despite fiscal first quarter 2003 revenues that surged to $549,111 from the $377,548 posted during the similar period of 2002, Peoples Energy reported a stagnant net income of $31 million or $0.87 per diluted share for its first quarter 2003 ended December 31, 2002, compared with $31 million or $0.87 per diluted share last year.

Alleviating overbought conditions, natural gas futures sifted lower Friday as traders took profits ahead of the three-day holiday weekend. By checking down to its $5.44 low for the session, the February contract filled in a key level on the charts. It closed at $5.536, down 10.9 cents for the session. Estimated volume was light in Friday’s abbreviated session.

After opening unchanged and checking sideways for the first hour of trading Friday, natural gas futures rocketed higher between 11 a.m and 12:40 p.m. EST as sellers backed away from the market and buyers became more aggressive.

Incentives and profits for speculative trading are out, and traditional hedging and marketing centered on assets are in, according to the head of theWestern Power Trading Forum.

As a third quarter rarity in the energy industry showing increased profits and a stable stock price, Bellevue, WA-based Puget Energy executives said last week they see 2003 as a chance to shake off two industry albatrosses — depressed wholesale power prices and a “dark cloud” of uncertainty hovering over western energy companies from the pending federal investigations of alleged trading and price manipulation in the wholesale market.

Despite the intensification of Isidore to a category 2 hurricane Friday morning, natural gas futures shuffled lower throughout the session as traders liquidated long positions acquired during last week’s 50-cent price spike. At $3.758, the October contract was down nearly 20 cents from Thursday’s high and 9.8 cents lower on the day, but still 29.1 cents higher for the week. Volume was heavy for a Friday, with an estimated 97,137 contracts changing hands.