Remaining

Even with massive amounts of offshore gas remaining off-lineMonday, the gas markets for both late September and October bidweekchose to pay more attention to bearish fundamentals elsewhere.Except for rises of a nickel or more for deliveries in theNortheast market area, which depends mainly on Gulf Coast supplies,incremental September numbers were falling by a dime or more atmost points.

Despite it remaining unclear Friday whether Tropical Depression8 (expected to become Tropical Storm Hermine by Saturday) wouldhave substantive and lasting impact on Gulf of Mexico production,just the possibility was enough to propel cash prices upward byanywhere from a dime to 20 cents at eastern points. Westernmarkets, more removed from the Gulf supply outages, also rose butmostly by a dime or less. The double-digit uptick on the futuresscreen did more than anything fundamental to boost numbers in theWest, a marketer said.

El Paso Energy sold its 25% interest in NrG Information Servicesto NrG’s remaining partners, NOVA Gas Transmission., TransCanadaPipeLines, and Westcoast Energy. “This decision allows El PasoEnergy to continue focusing on its core businesses, includingnatural gas transmission, gas gathering and processing, energymarketing, and international project development,” said Graciela E.Martinez, El Paso vice president.