Propel

Despite forecasts calling for up to 8 inches of snow across southern New England, natural gas futures continued lower in expiration-related selling Tuesday, as traders continued to rotate out of their December contracts. With that the prompt month came to its final resting place at $4.14, down 12.1 cents for the day. Coincidentally, December also expired 12.1 cents lower than the level at which it began its month-long tenure as prompt contract, though it ended 1.4 cents above November’s settle.

Wholesale power prices helped propel Southern Co.’s earnings up 5% in the second quarter, and company officials said the Southeast’s largest utility remains on target to meet its financial and operational goals for the year. Earnings were $270 million, or 40 cents a share, at the top of the analysts’ predictions for the quarter, up from $256 million, or 39 cents a share for the same period of 2000. Operations earnings from the quarter excluded Mirant, the company that completed its spin off to Southern’s shareholders April 2 (see NGI, Feb. 26).

Bolstered by the return of hotter weather to some regions and a screen gain of nearly a dime, nearly all points ranged from flat to about a nickel higher Tuesday. A PG&E citygate gain of slightly more than 15 cents, coupled with declines of about a dime at Malin and about 25 cents at Southern Border into PG&E, were the primary exceptions to mild firmness.

Driven by North America’s growing thirst for natural gas and more drilling worldwide, Salomon Smith Barney revised its worldwide rig count forecast upwards by 30% and grew its estimated exploration and production midyear spending projections by 25%, predicting 22% more growth in North America alone. U.S. spending, propelled by aggressive independents, is at a higher pace than at any time in almost 20 years.

Driven by North America’s growing thirst for natural gas and more drilling worldwide, Salomon Smith Barney revised its worldwide rig count forecast upwards by 30% and grew its estimated exploration and production midyear spending projections by 25%, predicting 22% more growth in North America alone. U.S. spending, propelled by aggressive independents, is at a higher pace than at any time in almost 20 years.

A confluence of positive trends, including continued robustness in wholesale energy trading activity, helped to propel first quarter 2001 earnings at energy marketing and trading powerhouse Enron Corp. and its energy marketing competitor Dynegy Inc. above and beyond expectations previously locked in by Wall Street analysts.

A confluence of positive trends, including continued robustness in wholesale energy trading activity, helped to propel first quarter 2001 earnings at energy marketing and trading powerhouse Enron Corp. and its energy marketing competitor Dynegy Inc. above and beyond expectations previously locked in by Wall Street analysts.

Despite moderating temperatures and tumbling electric prices,natural gas futures continued to climb yesterday, punching throughstubborn resistance amid new speculative length and renewedconcerns that storage inventories are too low. Easily outpacing itsprior life-of-contract high at $3.24, the June contract rallied13.4 cents higher to finish at $3.317. In doing so, futures reachedtheir highest mark by a spot contract since November 1997.

It was no secret what bull traders in the natural gas pit had todo yesterday in order to propel the market higher; the charts toldthe story.