Reflection

Results from Talisman Energy’s North American shale plays continue to be positive, but the impact of increased taxes in the United Kingdom and a loss on held-for-trading financial instruments and the timings of liftings led to negative overall earnings in 1Q2011, the Calgary-based producer said Wednesday.

In a reflection of Wednesday afternoon’s meager storagewithdrawal report and the accompanying screen downturn, most cashpoints fell between about a dime and 20 cents Thursday. The majorvariations from the overall market were Northern Californiaupticks, flat to barely lower numbers in the Rockies and San JuanBasin, and a Southern California border decline of nearly 40 cents.

On reflection, the most surprising aspect of the past two monthsof California’s roller coaster electricity prices is that thepeople who pieced together the state’s power deregulation plans —state legislators and regulators — are voicing the loudestconcern about the first real dose of free-market price volatilityfelt by retail mass consumers, who, it might be added, are alsovoters. In a free market, heavy demand butting heads withconstrained supplies will result in the blood of high pricessplattering everyone.