Reiterated

The United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) reiterated its stance on Tuesday that “futures contracts will remain its principal investment,” but left open the possibility that it may be forced to abandon the futures market altogether because of anticipated changes in the regulatory environment from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

PG&E Corp. shuffled a couple of senior executives effective Aug. 1, but its CEO reiterated that the company’s focus will remain unchanged, emphasizing renewables and infrastructure development. Along with this operating strategy, the utility holding company intends to remain an active participant in molding a new national energy policy, CEO Peter Darbee told a second quarter earnings conference call last Wednesday, announcing quarter-over-quarter increased profits.

PG&E Corp. shuffled a couple of senior executives effective last Saturday, but its CEO reiterated that the company’s focus will remain unchanged, emphasizing renewables and infrastructure development. Along with this operating strategy, the utility holding company intends to remain an active participant in molding a new national energy policy, CEO Peter Darbee told a second quarter earnings conference call Wednesday, announcing quarter-over-quarter increased profits.

While otherwise positive toward a utility bond sale, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services on Friday reiterated its distaste for Sempra Energy’s purchase last year of EnergySouth for its storage plays in the Gulf of Mexico region. It assigned a negative outlook to Sempra utility San Diego Gas and Electric Co.’s (SDG&E) “A+” rated sale of $176.26 million industrial development revenue refunding bonds as fixed-rate instruments to refund bonds sold five years ago.

In a letter to state legislative leaders Aug. 21, Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal urged that the state not get into the natural gas business, although he reiterated his support for the activities of the state pipeline authority. He supports the Wyoming Pipeline Authority’s (WPA) work to deal with the price differential for stranded gas in the state.

In a letter to state legislative leaders last Thursday, Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal urged that the state not get into the natural gas business, although he reiterated his support for the activities of the state pipeline authority. He supports the Wyoming Pipeline Authority’s (WPA) work to deal with the price differential for stranded gas in the state.

In a market environment where the only certainty is that there is none, natural gas wholesale buying requires a philosophy that is constantly reviewed and reiterated to organizational leaders, said Val Trinkley, general manager of EnergyUSA, speaking at GasMart 2008 in Chicago Thursday. The energy marketer with NiSource conducted a workshop on “Natural Gas Risk Management — Developing a Strategy.”

In a market environment where the only certainty is that there is none, natural gas wholesale buying requires a philosophy that is constantly reviewed and reiterated to organizational leaders, said Val Trinkley, general manager of EnergyUSA, speaking at GasMart 2008 in Chicago Thursday. The energy marketer with NiSource conducted a workshop on “Natural Gas Risk Management — Developing a Strategy.”

London-based Tropical Storm Risk (TSR) reiterated last week that it expects 2007 Atlantic basin and U.S. landfalling tropical cyclone activity to be about 75% above the 1950-2006 norm, the highest March forecast for activity in any year since the forecaster began issuing real-time forecasts in 1984. Based on current and projected climate signals, TSR said there is a “high probability” for an active hurricane season.