Records

Despite the U.S. having just experienced its fourth warmest December since records began in 1895 (see Daily GPI, Jan. 10), AccuWeather chief long-range forecaster Joe Bastardi said the unseasonably warm winter to date in the United States is likely to “turn on a dime” this month. If his forecast proves true, natural gas and power prices could be jolted higher, as already evidenced by the natural gas futures market’s response to these cold front warnings.

Electronic energy marketplace IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) last week reported annual volume and commission records in its futures and over-the-counter (OTC) businesses. For the ninth consecutive year, the Atlanta-based company reported that ICE Futures — the company’s futures business segment — established an annual volume record, with traded contract volume in 2006 exceeding the previous record set in 2005 by more than 120%.

Electronic energy marketplace IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) on Wednesday reported annual volume and commission records in its futures and over-the-counter (OTC) businesses. For the ninth consecutive year, the Atlanta-based company reported that ICE Futures — the company’s futures business segment — established an annual volume record, with traded contract volume in 2006 exceeding the previous record set in 2005 by more than 120%.

The IntercontinentalExchange continued its upward surge of futures trading activity and commissions on its over-the-counter (OTC) business with new records in both areas in September. It was the ninth consecutive record month for ICE futures. At the same time the rival New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) reported that as of Sept. 29, trading in a number of areas in the first nine months of 2006 had exceeded totals traded in all of 2005.

Soaring power demand records far in excess of what was projected this year in many regions should be a wake up call that a new power market crisis could be developing right under our noses, according to a white paper from Pace Global Energy Services, a Fairfax, VA-based energy services and consulting firm.

A draft order released Thursday by FERC would amend Commission regulations to extend to five years from three the records retention requirement applicable to all transactions that fall under FERC’s market-based rate authorizations for power and natural gas. The decision completes the Commission’s recent modifications to its energy market behavior rules.

The New York Mercantile Exchange said last week that two seats on the Nymex Division set records in consecutive days. On Thursday, a seat sold for $3 million, surpassing the $2.85 million record sale set on September 27 (see Daily GPI, Sept. 28; Oct. 21) On Friday, a seat sold for $3.1 million, the most ever for a seat on any futures exchange. Ownership of a seat on the Nymex Division also represents a share of common stock in Nymex Holdings Inc. “It is a dynamic time for the exchange and its markets, and we have seen unprecedented growth in volumes as we have continued to meet the evolving risk management needs of the industry,” said Nymex President James E. Newsome.

The New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. on Friday announced monthly volume records for August for Exchange-wide futures and options, NYMEX Division futures; NYMEX Division options; light, sweet crude oil futures; gasoline futures; and overall NYMEX miNYsm and NYMEX miNYsm crude oil and natural gas futures.

Houston-based Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP vigorously defended its operating and environmental records in the wake of cutting a deal with the California attorney general’s office over a diesel fuel spill involving one of its pipeline operating subsidiaries. Since the incident last April, Kinder has replaced the multi-fuel pipeline in a $90 million investment in its northern California operations.