Slowly

Natural gas is slowly replacing crude oil as the fuel of choice around the globe, lifted not only by its clean-burning capabilities but by the amazing growth of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the emergence of gas-to-liquids (GTL), top energy producers said Wednesday at Cambridge Energy Research Associates’ CERAWeek in Houston.

Gulf of Mexico gas production was slowly beginning to return to normal on Wednesday but 2.2 Bcf/d of gas remained shut in, according to the Minerals Management Service. Despite the supply issues, however, a sharp drop in gas futures prices well below psychological support at $5 sent cash prices tumbling 5-20 cents across the board.

As energy merchants and utilities slowly pick themselves off the mat and get back into the game, CMS Energy Corp. and TXU Corp. last week scored some positive news.

Like a locomotive slowly gaining momentum, the natural gas futures market chugged higher Wednesday as traders lifted the market off early lows in anticipation of a bullish reaction to Thursday’s gas storage report. Although it missed matching Monday’s $5.25 high by a few ticks, the May contract impressed traders with its 8.7-cent advance and $5.195 close.

As Enron Corp. fades slowly into history the trinkets and trappings that helped create the company’s forceful mystique soon can be had by even ordinary people.

Dynegy Inc.’s restructuring is on schedule, liquidity is improving, and investors are slowly showing a little more faith. Now, management wants to stabilize the once prosperous marketing and trading unit, and will disregard those who believe the energy merchant sector has been wiped out. “It’s awfully easy to get in a doom-and-gloom mood,” interim CEO Dan Dienstbier said Tuesday. “But I’m not pessimistic in our ability to complete our plan and move forward…Sometimes, you have to go home and say, ‘Hey, get a grip…This is a good, solid company, and we intend to be here when it is all sorted out.'”

Fitch Ratings on Friday raised its previous oil and gas price estimates for the year, predicting natural gas prices will stabilize at $2.50/Mcf, and move to $2.75/Mcf in ’03, as production slowly creeps up toward the end of ’02. However, Fitch analyst Sean Sexton warned that the strip prices for gas still “may soften somewhat” with storage expected to be high through the year. “We estimate that currently, there is still half the gas in storage for next year…filling won’t be a problem even if demand comes back a little quicker.”

Houston-based independent KCS Energy Inc. is slowly emergingfrom bankruptcy, completing the necessary steps to reorganize,announcing it has signed a production agreement with Enron NorthAmerica Corp. to sell about 17.3% of its oil and gas reserves overthe next five years for $176 million. KCS held nearly 277 Bcfe ofreserves in 2000.

Deep drilling in the southwest end of California’s central SanJoaquin Valley is awaiting more testing work to prove that backers’claims of substantial new oil and gas supplies below 15,000-footdepths are, in fact, commercially available.