Quite

A moderate advance in weather load got a market response of equally moderate price increases Wednesday. With quite a few points registering close to flat again, a preponderance of the gains were 7 cents or less.

What several sources believe may be an extended period of slow, often featureless and softer cash trading was launched Tuesday with all points on the same falling price page. Trends were more consistent across the entire market, with a large majority of points registering declines from a little less than a dime to about 15 cents. More modest drops tended to occur in non-Permian Basin western markets, while larger losses were recorded in the Northeast.

If you are a futures bear, it goes without saying that you have had quite a run over the past eight months. After all, the market has repeatedly given you price-negative technical and fundamental news on which to trade. And even when the market was hit with a bullish influence such as a tropical storm or a round of short-covering, the rally has been short-lived. In possibly the crowning example of this bearishness, the American Gas Association announced yesterday not only that a whopping 86 Bcf had been injected into storage last week, but also that they were forced to revise — as many market participants had expected — the refill from the week prior from 3 Bcf to 50 Bcf.

Barrett Resources wasn’t quite ready to circle the wagons onFriday to fight off a hostile takeover bid by Royal Dutch ShellGroup, but it did give Shell the cold shoulder. Barrett said itwould begin an open bidding process to consider proposals from “anumber of qualified parties, rather than commencing negotiationssolely with Shell under artificial deadlines that only serveShell’s interests.”

Barrett Resources wasn’t quite ready to circle the wagons onFriday to fight off a hostile takeover bid by Royal Dutch ShellGroup, but did give Shell the cold shoulder. Barrett said it wouldbegin an open bidding process to consider proposals from “a numberof qualified parties, rather than commencing negotiations solelywith Shell under artificial deadlines that only serve Shell’sinterests.”

It could be quite some time before FERC responds to San DiegoGas and Electric’s (SDG&E) emergency request seekingreinstatement of price caps on short-term capacity releases for gastransportation service to the California market.

Utility watchdog group The Utility Reform Network (TURN) isn’tquite convinced that California’s two major utilities are hurtingfinancially from this summer’s wholesale power price spikes.

While not plunging quite as steeply as the day before, pricesfor the weekend continued to record double-digit declines Friday.There was considerably more consistency across all markets than onThursday as virtually all points fell between 15 cents and about aquarter.

Utility watchdog group The Utility Reform Network (TURN) isn’tquite convinced that California’s two major utilities are hurtingfinancially from this summer’s wholesale power price spikes.