Remain

Mild to cool conditions remain dominant north of the southern third of the United States, yet the cash market got even stronger than before with double-digit increases nearly across the board Tuesday.

Natural gas prices are weak and will remain that way into 2011 because of abundant supplies and weak demand, Merrill Lynch, the investment banking arm of Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML), said Tuesday. Analysts slashed their forecast for U.S. prices in the final three months of 2010 by 16% and revised their outlook for gas prices for 2011 downward by 17%.

Tenaska Inc. co-founder Howard Hawks said he will retire from his role as CEO effective July 1 but will remain chairman of the company and of two affiliated private equity investment companies developed by Tenaska — Tenaska Power Fund LP (TPF I) and TPF II. When Hawks steps down, current Tenaska CFO Jerry Crouse will become CEO and vice chairman with responsibility for holding company assets and activities, and Paul Smith will become vice chairman in addition to his current role as CEO of affiliate Tenaska Capital Management LLC (TCM). Smith is a co-founder of TCM and manager of the TPF I and TPF II private equity funds. Current Tenaska finance vice president and treasurer Greg Van Dyke will be promoted to CFO and treasurer, while current vice president and controller Tim Kudron will become senior vice president and corporate controller. Under Hawks’ leadership since its inception in 1987, Omaha, NE-based Tenaska has developed about 9,000 MW of power generation and currently manages and operates eight power plants totaling 6,700 MW that it owns in partnership with other companies. Tenaska affiliates are involved in natural gas, electricity and biofuels marketing, as well as private equity funds, gas exploration and production and investments in renewable energy.

A high-ranking Halliburton executive Tuesday said he doesn’t believe drilling in the offshore — both in shallow water and deepwater — can remain at a standstill for long as a result of the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).

Natural gas futures closed slightly higher Tuesday as traders were content to remain on the sidelines and avoid the free-falling petroleum and equity markets. June natural gas futures rose 1.3 cents to $4.013 and July added a meager 0.4 cents to $4.133. June crude oil tumbled $3.45 to $82.74, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average spiraled lower 225 points to 10,926 largely on debt concerns in Greece.

It appeared for a while that Southern California Gas was not extending a high-linepack OFO beyond Wednesday, but the utility told shippers that afternoon that the OFO would remain in effect through at least Thursday.

It appeared for a while that Southern California Gas was not extending a high-linepack OFO beyond Wednesday, but the utility told shippers that afternoon that the OFO would remain in effect through at least Thursday.

ConocoPhillips plans to remain a major player in the development of natural gas shale resources, but for now its focus will be on those plays with a high liquids content, particularly the Bakken in Montana and North Dakota, and Eagle Ford in Texas, according to Kevin Meyers, senior vice president, exploration and production, Americas.

ConocoPhillips plans to remain a major player in the development of natural gas shale resources, but for now its focus will be on those plays with a high liquids content, particularly the Bakken in Montana and North Dakota, and Eagle Ford in Texas, according to Kevin Meyers, senior vice president, exploration and production, Americas.