Quickly

The Connecticut retail gas market “will quickly turn into nomarket at all” if the state Department of Public Utility Control(DPUC) approves the August unbundling tariff filings made by thestate’s three local distribution companies, retail gas marketerssaid last week in a joint brief. The DPUC is expected to issue afirst phase unbundling order later this week that will address theissues presented by the marketers.

A tropical depression formed quickly Tuesday afternoon from whathad appeared to be no more than a disorganized bunch ofthunderstorms in the morning. A storm warning was issued forpractically the entire coast of Texas (Brownsville to High Island).Although a mid-afternoon spot check of some larger producersindicated mostly a “keeping an eye on things” attitude rather thanactual platform evacuations, it was likely that tentative planswere turning into concrete action that evening.

Futures traders spent most of Monday in a “wait’n-see position”poised to react quickly if the market broke in either direction.However, no fresh news could be gleaned from yesterday’s market andas a result the market took what has become the path of leastresistance lately to move lower in quiet trade. The Septembercontract slipped 2.1 cents to $1.926.

Avista Energy said it’s quickly moving up in the gas and powermarketer rankings, increasing its power sales by 90% in the firstquarter of 1998 compared with the fourth quarter of last year andgrowing gas trading volumes by 42% over the same period.

The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) quickly approved aproposal by MichCon to implement a three-year plan to offer its 1.2million residential and commercial gas customers the opportunity toselect alternative natural gas suppliers. The plan also cuts andfreezes gas costs for customers who stay with MichCon as their gasprovider.

The April Nymex contract got off to a fast start Thursday byopening at $2.32 and quickly moving to $2.34. However, strongtechnical selling kicked in at that point, so much so that Aprilslid back to settle the day down 3.4 cents at $2.284.