Searching

In a topsy-turvy session that left both bull and bear searching for answers, natural gas futures slipped lower Thursday as traders took profits following Wednesday’s shocking storage news and resultant 37.4-cent advance. At the closing bell yesterday, the September contract was 10.1 cents lower at $3.367.

PPL EnergyPlus has outgrown its home and is searching for a new one to house its rapidly growing energy marketing and trading operations. The company said it is evaluating sites around the Lehigh Valley.

PPL EnergyPlus has outgrown its home and is searching for a new one to house its rapidly growing energy marketing and trading operations. The company said it is evaluating sites around the Lehigh Valley.

With little in the way of fresh fundamental news, natural gastraders were forced to base their decisions on a combination oftechnical factors and their own personal instinct Thursday, as theylifted prices steadily higher throughout the trading session. TheApril contract closed 17.1 cents higher at $5.212, just off its$5.22 high on the day.

The management of California’s independent grid operator(Cal-ISO) is searching for ways to correct market flaws identifiedlast month by its market surveillance committee, which spread blamearound to utilities, regulators, generators and the Cal-ISO itselfin the wake of the summer price/supply crunch. A suggested responseby Cal-ISO staff was submitted Sept. 28 to the grid operator’sboard of governors.

The management of California’s independent grid operator(Cal-ISO) is searching for ways to correct market flaws identifiedlast month by its market surveillance committee, which spread blamearound to utilities, regulators, generators and the Cal-ISO itselfin the wake of the summer price/supply crunch. A suggested responseby Cal-ISO staff was submitted Sept. 28 to the grid operator’sboard of governors.

Parties in ongoing settlement negotiations have given up hope ofan all-encompassing, permanent solution to California’s futurenatural gas unbundling puzzle following an Oct. 6 meeting in LosAngeles. The best and most realistic hope now appears to be forattaining consensus on an interim solution by the regulator-imposedOct. 27 deadline, along with what parties describe as an”aggressive” timetable of up to two years for resolving andimplementing the issues of intra-state transmission and storageunbundling.

Sources were searching for new ways of expressing “flat” as1999’s relative lack of volatility in day trading continued Monday.A lot of zeroes were showing up in the average-change column of theprice table even as lack of fundamentals again failed to depresscash numbers. A Southwest trader reporting “not much demand andplenty of supply available” was surprised that prices weren’t goingdown.

After searching for a leader to take the helm at EquitableResources for nearly a year, the company’s board of directorsannounced yesterday it has appointed Coral Energy CEO Murry S.Gerber, 45. Gerber will assume his position as president and chiefexecutive officer of Equitable on June 1. Gerber also will serve asa director on the company’s board.