Regions

Semco Energy announced the resignation of its chairman, president and CEO, Marcus Jackson, Wednesday, after its board determined that new leadership is needed because the company has not reached certain financial goals. Semco shares rose 2.4% to $5.03 on the news.

Despite all the earlier talk about how mild the weather is turning, markets in the West and Midcontinent/Midwest regions were experiencing or expecting enough heating load to range from flat to up about a dime in most cases Thursday. Gulf Coast and Northeast points continued the previous day’s trend of mild softening, but with a few instances of flat numbers.

The Big Apple was where the big prices were Monday. Transco’s Zone 6-New York City pool spiked as high as $18 and rose more than $2 on average to lead more modest gains at most other Northeast points as a new winter storm took aim at southern portions of the region. However, spreading cold in the rest of the U.S. gave little price support to the general market, which ranged from a few cents higher to down about 15 cents.

High natural gas prices and narrowed spark spreads in some regions hurt the second quarter performance of gas-fired generators, but should benefit the results of companies with exploration and production (E&P) components, according to a report by CreditSights analysts.

Rising temperatures, particularly in the Midwest and Midcontinent regions, gave an extra push Tuesday to the somewhat hesitant rally of the day before. The result was double-digit gains at almost every point Tuesday, with a majority of them surpassing 20 cents and a couple approaching 40 cents.

Deepwater field development worldwide is forecast to continue its strong growth through 2007, and in 2003, the most — $5.29 billion — will be spent in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, according to global analysts Douglas-Westwood Ltd. Worldwide, development in the next five years likely will double, provided there are enough trained workers and enough profit for contractors.

Deepwater field development worldwide is forecast to continue its strong growth through 2007, and in 2003, the most — $5.29 billion — will be spent in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, according to global analysts Douglas-Westwood Ltd. Worldwide, development in the next five years likely will double, provided there are enough trained workers and enough profit for contractors.

Prices ranged from flat to mostly moderately higher Friday in all regions except the Rockies. They got some follow-through momentum from Thursday’s screen run-up following a below-expectations storage report, and traders also were looking ahead to the return of Northeast temperatures in the 90s as this week begins.

The Gulf of Mexico is expected to remain one of the most prolific natural gas supply regions over the next two decades, with production levels projected to rise by nearly 30% to 6.4 Tcf in 2010, and by more than 40% to 7.2 Tcf in 2020, according to an INGAA Foundation-commissioned study that was forwarded to Senate Energy Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) last week.