Sluggish

In light of natural gas storage injections far outpacing last year’s schedule, a sluggish economy and lost demand only trickling back to market, energy analysts from UBS Warburg, Salomon Smith Barney (SSB), Lehman Brothers and ABN-AMRO have taken another look at their respective companies’ 2001 gas price forecasts.

In light of natural gas storage levels far outpacing last year’s injection schedule, a sluggish economy and lost demand only trickling back to market, energy analysts from UBS Warburg, Salomon Smith Barney (SSB), Lehman Brothers and ABN-AMRO have taken another look at their respective companies’ 2001 gas price forecasts.

California’s well documented difficulties related to electric restructuring and a sluggish response from consumers to retail electric competition in key parts of the country have not deterred most U.S. electric utilities from continuing to pursue competitive retail plans. The situation has not kept several states from moving forward with restructuring efforts, according to an industry analysis by Chartwell in its new publication, Competition in the Energy Industry, 2001, which was unveiled last week.

California’s well documented difficulties related to electric restructuring and a sluggish response from consumers to retail electric competition in key parts of the country have not deterred most U.S. electric utilities from continuing to pursue competitive retail plans. Nor has it kept several states from moving forward with restructuring efforts, according to an industry analysis by Chartwell included in its new publication, Competition in the Energy Industry, 2001.

Momentum may have appeared just in time last week forCalifornia’s sluggish power plant siting system with stateapprovals on short- and long-term electricity capacity additionsand the prospects for putting another 2,000-plus MW in play by theend of February

The 2000 cash market was sluggish and weak Tuesday as a fullcomplement of traders finally returned to their offices followingthe New Year’s holiday break. A sharp futures decline coupled withonly moderately cold weather in most regions depressed most pointsby about a dime or more below the levels at which they rang out theold year Thursday.

Everyone seems to be “joining the slow club,” one sourceremarked Wednesday as the last day of June futures trading onlynudged June baseload and the day-trading markets slightly higherfrom the holding patterns established Tuesday. Today will be muchmore active, he said, because the Nymex closes early Friday due toMemorial Day, and time is running out to get deals done.