Thursday’s trading confirmed the signs from Wednesday that therecent bullishness in swing prices had reached a peak. Although afew points were flat to 2-3 cents higher Thursday, the majorityfell by several cents, with the greatest weakness occurring in theMidcontinent/Midwest and Southwest markets. Cash anticipated afutures downswing and beat the screen to the punch by starting tosoften earlier, a Midcontinent marketer said, although Nymextraders eventually wound up the day with a small gain.
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Bullish Price Trend Continues But Slows Down
This week’s uptrend in cash prices continued Wednesday butclearly showed signs of losing momentum. Several points in variousmarkets leveled off with flat showings, and the gains were small,generally less than 4 cents. PG&E citygates saw the day’s mostnotable decline of more than a nickel due to a high-inventory OFOby the utility that is effective today and carries a stringent 3%tolerance for positive imbalances.
Aquila Signs Major Gas Deal with ComEd
Aquila Energy landed a whopper supply deal last week withChicago-based ComEd, one of the largest electric utilities in thecountry. The contract is for up to 625,000 Dth/d and Aquila said itis the largest single natural gas contract that has ever beenarranged in the energy industry. Although terms of the one-yeartransaction were not released, marketing sources and NGI’s pricingstaff confirmed the deal is tied to NGI’s Chicago cash index, oneof the most widely used indexes in the industry.
Aquila Signs Major Gas Deal with ComEd
Aquila Energy landed a whopper supply deal yesterday with ComEd.The contract is for up to 625,000 Dth/d of gas to be delivered toChicago. Aquila said it is the largest single natural gas contractthat has ever been arranged in the energy industry and certainlythe largest gas deal Aquila has ever signed. Although terms of theone-year transaction were not released, marketing sources and NGI’spricing staff confirmed the deal is tied to NGI’s Chicago cashindex, one of the most widely used indexes in the industry.
Ohio Governor Signs Electric Choice Into Law
Ohio Gov. Bob Taft signed the state’s electric restructuringbill Tuesday. All Ohio customers are to have a choice of suppliersbeginning Jan. 1, 2001. Beginning Jan. 1, 2001 consumers will enjoya mandatory rate reduction of 5% provided for in the bill and beable to purchase electricity from whichever company they choose.
KN Marketing Signs Gas Management Deal
Continuing a flurry of activity since its proposed merger withSempra Energy fell through (See related story), KN Energy was at itagain Friday as its marketing affiliate, KN Marketing, announced itwas selected to provide gas and fuel management services to a 600MW power plant in Elwood, IL. KN will supply 10 Bcf/year to thisplant at an undisclosed price. The Colorado-based company will alsomanage the plant’s fuel service, including supplying, balancing andmanaging storage and transportation.
Some Points Exceed Index Levels by a Dime
The cash market continued Tuesday to show the same signs ofaftermarket strength-and even more in some cases-that it did lastFriday in swing deals done for June 1 only. Many of the Gulf Coastpipes were trading about a dime above indexes, and most otherpoints were at least a nickel above indexes. However, some tradersdidn’t expect the higher prices to last, noting late softness insome markets such as Chicago.
White House ‘Signs Off’ On Hebert Renomination
The White House has given the green-light to the renomination ofCommissioner Curt Hebert Jr. for a full five-year term at theFederal Energy Regulatory Commission.
PG&E Energy Signs Key Power Deal
PG&E Energy Services kicked off the new year with a bangyesterday by announcing it inked a major deal with Equity OfficeProperties Trust, the largest publicly held owner and manager ofoffice properties in the nation, to supply electricity to itsoffice buildings in northern California.
Southern Crossing Signs Another Shipper
PG&E Energy Trading Canada Corp. has made a deal with BC Gasfor capacity on the BC Gas Southern Crossing Pipeline project andfor provision of peaking services to BC Gas, pending regulatoryapprovals. BC Gas last week re-filed for construction of theSouthern Crossing Pipeline, a loop of existing pipeline linked tothe north-south Westcoast Energy pipeline connecting to BritishColumbia and the U.S. Pacific Northwest. The pipeline to linkAlberta gas to the Huntingdon, BC, market area is scheduled tobegin operation Nov. 1, 2000.