Slow

Northwest Natural Gas Co. confirmed Friday that it is negotiating with Enron Corp. to buy its slow growing electric utility Portland General Electric Co. (PGE), but added “there can be no assurances that any transaction will result” from its negotiations. Enron has been trying to sell the utility for nearly two years, and was close to completing a $3.1 billion deal with Sierra Pacific Resources, but that sale fell apart nearly six months ago in the midst of the California energy crisis (see NGI, April 30).

Despite a “go slow” approach toward electric competition in Florida that has already turned away Duke Energy, Enron Corp. appears to be making headway in the quest to enter the tightly guarded state, according to a recent SCIENTECH IssueAlert by Will McNamara. The community of Deerfield Beach, FL recently gave Enron approval to build a natural gas-fired power plant one mile north of a site it abandoned last week “amid fierce opposition.”

Despite a “go slow” approach toward electric competition in Florida that has already turned away Duke Energy, Enron Corp. appears to be making headway in the quest to enter the tightly guarded state, according to a recent Scientech IssueAlert by Will McNamara. The community of Deerfield Beach, FL recently gave Enron approval to build a natural gas-fired power plant one mile north of a site it abandoned earlier in the week “amid fierce opposition.”

Many observers were expecting a rebound yesterday, but got little confirmation that technical factors would support much of a change in direction. The August contract barely managed to halt the long decline. After slipping more than 22 cents in its first two trading sessions as the near-month contract, August struggled to muster a 2.1-cent daily gain, closing at $3.117, about a nickle off its daily high and 6.7 cents off its low of $3.050.

While hasn’t there been a slow-down in the frenzy of exploration and production activity in the Rockies since gas prices in the region have plummeted in the last few months while prices in other areas of the country have experienced much softer declines? The answer, according to Raymond James & Associates analyst Wayne Andrews, is that significant new pipeline infrastructure is on its way to help relieve continuing constraints.

Like other producers last week who pointed to flat growth (seerelated story) despite ramped up exploration and productionprograms, Anadarko Energy Services president Richard Sharplespredicted U.S. domestic gas production may rise only slightly thisyear.

Although still very much intact, the uptrend which has carriedprices higher for much of the year suffered a defeat yesterday, astraders liquidated positions on the open to create a potentiallybearish technical scenario. The January contract took the sell-offsquarely on the chin, tumbling $1.00 lower to evoke a lock-limitdown trading halt at about 10:15 a.m. (ET) Tuesday. Afterre-opening 15 minutes later with new two-dollar limits in eitherdirection, the market continued lower to finish at $8.145, down$1.268 for the session.

Slow but steady appears to be winning the race for the retailnatural gas market in Maryland, where some marketers have droppedout — casualties to high prices and billing problems — butothers are closing ranks and developing the sophisticationnecessary to weather changing conditions.

Slow, but steady appears to be winning the race for the retailnatural gas market in the state of Maryland, where some marketershave dropped out — casualties to high prices and billing problems— but others are closing ranks and developing the sophisticationnecessary to weather changing conditions.