Sharply

Spectra Energy third quarter profit was down sharply on discontinued operations, but when special items are excluded net income shows a nearly 32% gain from the year-ago period on strong results in the company’s gas pipeline and storage businesses.

Unless the price of natural gas falls sharply, New England likely will depend heavily on it as the main fuel for electricity production for the next 20 years, according to an analysis issued Thursday by ISO New England.

Unless the price of natural gas falls sharply, New England likely will depend heavily on it as the main fuel for electricity production for the next 20 years, according to an analysis issued on Thursday by ISO New England.

A newly licensed technology from inventors at the Los Alamos National Laboratory promises to sharply lower the costs of gas liquefaction while also making liquefaction an option to oil producers around the world that typically flare their associated natural gas.

With temperatures moderating throughout the Midwest and most of the East, March natural gas futures explored lower price levels for a majority of Tuesday’s regular trading session. However, thanks to a late round of buying, the prompt month pushed higher to close at the day’s high of $7.585, up 8.2 cents from Friday’s close.

Despite continuing extreme cold in the Northeast, spot prices sharply reversed course Tuesday with Transco Zone 6 New York dumping more than $24 to end the day with an average slightly less than $16. Other Northeast locations were off $2-$5.75 into the $9-12 range.

Bolstered by cost recovery and higher revenues in its electric and natural gas transmission operations, PG&E Corp. Wednesday reported sharply higher third-quarter earnings, up 56% from results for the same period in 2005. Net income for the third quarter was $393 million ($1.09/share) compared with $252 million (63 cents/share) in the third quarter last year. As a result, the utility holding company increased its earnings guidance for 2006 by 5 cents/share to the range of $2.45-$2.55.

Overall customer satisfaction with the 56 largest natural gas local distribution companies (LDC) declined sharply following a reported 23% increase in residential monthly bills compared to 2005, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2006 Gas Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study released Wednesday.

Canada Southern Petroleum shares gapped sharply higher on the NASDAQ Wednesday morning and reached a new 52-week high of $13.49 after Petro-Canada announced that its subsidiary Nosara Holdings Ltd. was raising its offer for the shares of the company for a second time to $13/share from $11. Nosara’s original offer in May to Canada Southern shareholders was $7.50, but a bidding war with Canadian Oil Sands and Canadian Superior over the shares raised the stakes significantly (see Daily GPI, June 30).