Speculation

The New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) is planning to release a report before the end of this year detailing the types of participants in the natural gas and crude oil futures markets, Nymex President James Newsome, former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), said in an interview with NGI last Thursday.

With speculation on potential disruptions in global crude supplies driving spot and futures markets, Fitch Ratings last Monday raised its natural gas price deck to $5.75/Mcf this year and to $4.50 in 2005. Fitch also pushed oil higher, to $34/bbl this year and to $27 in 2005.

With speculation on potential disruptions in global crude supplies driving spot and futures markets, Fitch Ratings on Monday raised its natural gas price deck to $5.75/Mcf this year and to $4.50 in 2005. Fitch also pushed oil higher, to $34/bbl this year and to $27 in 2005.

In a startling disclosure last week, an aide to Conference Committee Chairman Pete Domenici (R-NM) signaled that the broad-based energy bill being negotiated on Capitol Hill may not be finished this year. While some saw this simply as a negotiating tactic, others said that if headway wasn’t made this week on the remaining contentious items, the bill could be in jeopardy.

Ending months of speculation, Oneok Inc. said Thursday that it has decided not to purchase Westar Energy Inc.’s 42.5% stake in Oneok. The company’s board of directors said it decided that Oneok’s energies would be better spent on focusing on building shareholder value through growth, profitability and performance.

Ending months of speculation, FERC Chairman Curt Hebert Jr. has informed the White House that he will step down from the Commission at the end of August. At the same time FERC General Counsel Kevin Madden, who has long had a hand in directing Commission activities, will also leave to take a position with AGL Resources in Atlanta.

Ending months of speculation, FERC Chairman Curt Hebert Jr. informed the White House late last week that he will step down from the Commission at the end of August.

Buoyed by stronger cash market values and bullish speculationahead of the latest AGA storage report, natural gas futures clawedtheir way off early morning lows yesterday as buyers added to theirsummer long positions. However, that buying pressure was all fornaught because prices came cascading back down late in the session,leaving the April contract with a 4.3-cent loss for the day. Theprompt month settled at $5.236.

After tumbling more than a dollar in Monday’s weather-relatedsell-off, the natural gas futures market was uncharacteristicallyquiet yesterday, as light buying in the summer months led to modestgains in the prompt March contract. After two brief forays down tothe $5.62 area, the March contract shuffled higher yesterday astraders looked ahead not only to fresh storage data to be releasedthis afternoon, but also to the summer refill season. At theclosing bell, March was up 5.8 cents at $5.764.