Something

Landowners and interstate pipelines actually agreed on somethingearlier this week — neither were particularly thrilled with someof the initiatives proposed by FERC for carving out a greater rolefor landowners in the certificate process. But the reasons fortheir dissatisfaction were completely disparate.

Something good did come out of the power market malfunctions oflast summer, according to Moody’s Investors Service. In a reportreleased yesterday, Moody’s said the experience has triggered a newcommitment to counterparty risk management by energy trading firmsthat will enhance credit quality in the energy sector and inspiregreater confidence in the market.

Expiration day in the natural gas pit had a little something foreveryone Monday. While bears were greeted yesterday morning by alower open that paved the way for declines to the $1.80 level,aggressive afternoon buying put a smile on bull-traders’ faces asit led the April contract back above Friday’s best levels. But whenall the dust had settled and the final settlement price was handeddown from the data room at Nymex, neither bull nor bear could claimthe see-saw battle as a victory or a defeat. April finished downjust 0.2 cents at $1.852 and the May contract echoed that sentimentclosing 0.2 cents lower to $1.883.

The cash market for the concluding days of November hadsomething in common with the famed cliff divers of Acapulco:breathtakingly steep plunges. “You better hope you sold your gasearly” Wednesday because there was almost no demand for the longholiday weekend, a marketer said, “and you just can’t cook thoseThanksgiving turkeys long enough [in gas ovens] to boost demand.”

Southern Company CEO A.W. “Bill” Dahlberg is something more thanshy about predicting where gas prices will go. But the industry’sembrace of gas-fired generation does prompt a modestly optimisticresponse to the question. “It would be logical to say that ifthere’s that much new demand for gas, the likelihood is that itwill drift up. And I guess if I were making the bet, that’sprobably the bet that I would make,” Dahlberg told reporters duringa briefing at the 17th Congress of the World Energy CouncilWednesday in Houston.

Although still a novice in the electricity market, ColumbiaEnergy Group accomplished something that a number of seasonedveteran traders failed to do when power prices in the Midwest shotup last June – it made a profit, says Chairman Oliver “Rick”Richard. He declined, however, to reveal the amount.

The cash market took something of a breather Tuesday followingthe breathtaking uprising that began the week. Several pointscontinued to rise but by decidedly smaller amounts than on Monday.Flat to slightly higher was the general rule, but Rockies numberswere falling as supply outages neared an end and mild weather inthe Western U.S. continued to depress demand. Malin and theSouthern California border also fell by small amounts.

The changing face of the energy industry prompted NGC Corp. tochange its name to something that encompasses electric power aswell as natural gas and other commodities. NGC is now Dynegy, aname fashioned from the words dynamic and energy.

Marketers were greeted last Thursday morning to something theyhadn’t seen all last week: unequivocally bearish indicators. Ahealthy storage injection, small futures retracement, and wiltingdemand ahead of a holiday weekend had sellers fast out of the chutelooking to unload their gas before the market cratered. This leftprices down anywhere from a couple of cents to almost a dime.However, one source said there was a certain “warm and fuzzy”feeling about trading this week and he looks for continued strengthMonday.