Reigns

Political enthusiasm for liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports reigns supreme in British Columbia (BC) as a result of the provincial election held Tuesday.

Apache Corp. is said to be shopping some of its portfolio in the Gulf of Mexico, a region where it now reigns as the largest shallow water driller and where it has steadily been building an inventory of deepwater prospects.

Apache Corp. is said to be shopping some of its portfolio in the Gulf of Mexico, a region where it now reigns as the largest shallow water driller and where it has steadily been building an inventory of deepwater prospects.

With energy futures softness from the day before weighing on Wednesday’s cash market, there wasn’t enough air conditioning load left across the southern tier of states to keep prices from experiencing mostly mild losses. Quotes ranged from flat to down about a quarter; most losses were less than a dime.

The cash market saw one of its most synchronized price movements ever Thursday as nearly all points ranged from flat to less than a nickel higher. A couple of scattered points fell up to 4 cents, and a couple of others rose slightly more than a nickel.

After opening lower in sympathy with lower cash market prices, natural gas futures rebounded Wednesday in reaction to wide price swings in the nearby crude oil pit. Although they finished well beneath their highs for the session, both natural gas and crude oil futures managed gains on the day. January natural gas finished at $5.278, up 3.8 cents for the session and January crude closed at $30.44, up 34 cents.

Rocky Mountains ski resort operators were starting to breathe alittle easier Tuesday. After many had missed traditional openingdates of Thanksgiving Day weekend or earlier, they welcomed asnowstorm that either was arriving or on its way. For much the samereason, Rockies/Pacific Northwest and Southwest points constitutedthe only region seeing meaningful price gains on either side of anickel Tuesday. The rest of the cash market was a sea of flatnessthat, unlike Monday, leaned slightly to the downside instead of theupside.

The cash market continued to muddle around with essentially nodirection for a second straight day Friday, leaving weekend numbersmostly unchanged. The few drops of about a nickel occurred atWestern points-intra-Alberta, Stanfield, Malin and SouthernCalifornia border-and chiefly resulted from the lifting of supplyand/or transportation constraints that allowed more gas back intothe market.