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Gas volumes among the top 20 North American marketers continued to show significant growth in the first quarter of the year with nearly a 40 Bcf/d rise in volumes compared to 1Q2000 and a 14.9 Bcf/d increase compared to 4Q2000 (see Table). The big volume gainers for the quarter (1Q2001 versus 1Q2000) were El Paso, Enron, BP, Mirant, Sempra and Reliant, while the only volume decreases in the top 20 were posted by Coral, Aquila and Williams.

As the traditional storage withdrawal season came to an end last week with working gas near record lows at 627 Bcf (19% full) and 404 Bcf lower than the same time last year, there were mixed opinions on Wall Street about what the 2001 refill season might hold. Lehman Brothers and Salomon Smith Barney warned that storage might be refilled at a record rate this year, possibly prompting a bearish reaction in the market in the short-term despite the extremely low level of working gas currently. Meanwhile, UBS Warburg and IFR Pegasus said that scenario was very unlikely.

Top North American Gas Marketers : Ranking by 2000 Sales VolumeRanking by Fourth Quarter 2000 Sales Volume

Top North American Gas Marketers : Ranking by 2000 Sales VolumeRanking by Fourth Quarter 2000 Sales Volume

Earnings among companies within the oil and gas industrycontinue to show significant growth in 2000, as evidenced by FPLGroup and TECO Energy, two Florida-based corporations whichreported sizeable gains in earnings for the fourth quarter 2000, aswell as the entire year.

The market astonished many traders with its show of weekendstrength Friday. They had anticipated that a week of falling priceswas about to reverse, but few if any were looking for much morethan flat numbers at most points. Instead, only small declines atStanfield and Kingsgate differed from increases ranging from about20 cents in the Rockies to triple digits in California.

Another Canadian takeover bid by Hunt Oil and a snap decisionduring the holiday season by the National Energy Board, highlightthe industry’s eagerness to take advantage of soaring gas marketswith new Canadian supplies.

In a somewhat stunning show of bullishness, natural gas futuresprobed higher yesterday as funds and locals followed the lead ofcommercial buying throughout the last hour of trading. On its firstday in the limelight, the new prompt month, October, received thelargest boost of any contract at Nymex, leaping 15.8 cents higherto close at $4.801. In doing so, it set a new all-time high dailysettlement for a prompt contract.

If the new route variation that Millennium Pipeline Co. L.P. hasproposed for its facilities in Westchester, NY, were a Broadwayshow, it probably would open and close on the same night, criticscontend.