Rivaling

Record cash flows pushed deal activity in the oil and gas industry to levels rivaling the mega merger highs of 1998, according to a recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Gas deals dominated the list of the largest transactions in 2006, with six out of the eight upstream deals in the top 10 deal list. This was in contrast to the previous year when only two deals in the top 10 of all deals and four of the top 10 of upstream deals were gas-dominated.

Faced with a lengthy new siege of cold weather that could come close to rivaling the blizzard experienced last weekend, all Northeast citygates shot higher by multi-dollar amounts Wednesday. And once again the rest of the cash market appeared quite bland in comparison, with price movement seldom varying by much more than a nickel up or down from flat, although gains extended as high as about 35 cents (Dominion in Appalachia) and losses ran as big as half a dollar (Transco Station 45 in the Gulf Coast).