Push

Southwest Gas Corp.’s plea to further push back the date for the conversion of full-requirements (FR) service on El Paso Natural Gas to contract-demand (CD) service is merely a foot-dragging ploy on the part of the local distribution company (LDC), and should be rejected by FERC outright, said a group of major natural gas producers and marketers served by the pipeline.

Southwest Gas Corp.’s plea to further push back the date for the conversion of full-requirements (FR) service on El Paso Natural Gas to contract-demand (CD) service is merely a foot-dragging maneuver on the part of the local distribution company (LDC), and should be rejected by FERC outright, said a group of major natural gas producers and marketers served by the pipeline.

With the most far-reaching of a number of proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects for North Baja, Mexico, Marathon Oil Co. announced Monday that it expects to start construction this year on its $1.5 billion multi-faceted energy center near the border city of Tijuana. Marathon said its consortium had selected KBR (Kellogg Brown & Root) and Techint S. S. de C. V. as the engineering, procurement and construction contractors.

Consolidated Edison Co. of New York’s (ConEd) push to recoup about $250 million in replacement power costs the utility incurred after shutting down its Indian Point nuclear power plant a couple of years ago vaulted a key legal hurdle last Monday after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a lower court’s ruling finding that the company had a right to recover such costs.

The low level of residual fuel and distillate inventories this winter means there will be less fuel available for switching and a higher natural gas price threshold for consumers to begin switching, according to bullish analysts at Raymond James & Associates.

Because traders efforts Monday to push higher were followed by a mid-day surge lower, natural gas futures remain stuck in the middle of the trading range that has limited the market’s movement since Nov. 18.

The low level of residual fuel and distillate inventories this winter means there will be less fuel available for switching and a higher natural gas price threshold for consumers to begin switching, according to bullish analysts at Raymond James & Associates.

November spot prices moved higher (up 8-14 cents at most locations) Friday for weekend deliveries in response to the late run-up in Nymex futures on Thursday and the cooler temperatures expected through the weekend.

Working off oversold conditions, natural gas futures turned higher Tuesday, as locals tried to pick a bottom, and trade and commercial sellers were slow to emerge. The end result was a 9.4 cent gain to $3.872 for the December contract, just a few ticks below its high for the session. Estimated volume was 65,897.