Shrunk

Generation reserve margins have shrunk across the country, and the United States has built too much gas-fired power gen and too little of everything else, making for a capacity portfolio that is underpowered and out of whack — not to mention too dependent upon natural gas, which increasingly will come from abroad.

Generation reserve margins have shrunk across the country, and the United States has built too much gas-fired power gen and too little of everything else, making for a capacity portfolio that is underpowered and out of whack — not to mention too dependent upon natural gas, which increasingly will come from abroad.

Even in the midst of a credit/credibility crunch that has shrunk its stock price and slowed its aggressive development program, San Jose, CA-based Calpine Corp. is looking to expand its natural gas operations, including a lusting eye toward the coal-bed methane industry in the heartland of the U.S. During an interview with NGI Tuesday, Calpine’s chief gas executive said he expects prices to trend upward as new supplies get tighter.

After slipping 2.5 cents Tuesday, the May natural gas futurescontract climbed back up to just below stubborn support at $2.19yesterday in tenuous trading ahead of the release of the AmericanGas Association (AGA) storage report. May finished the session up 3cents to $2.174.