Speculation

With the Supreme Court decision in effect handing the presidencyto Texas Gov. George W. Bush, speculation has escalated inWashington D.C. over who will be named the next FERC chairman undera Republican administration.

After months of speculation in the industry, Alliance Pipelineconfirmed last week full commercial service will be delayed nearlya month until Oct. 30. When construction of the system wasscheduled nearly three years ago, Oct. 2 was the target date forcommercial service.

After months of speculation in the industry, Alliance Pipelineconfirmed yesterday full commercial service will be delayed nearlya month until Oct. 30. When construction of the system wasscheduled nearly three years ago, Oct. 2 was the target date forcommercial service.

Occidental Petroleum, the unpredictable mid-size producer, holdssome wild cards in California’s unfolding natural gasrestructuring, and it’s so far playing them close to the vest.Independents in the south San Joaquin Valley oil patch think Oxy is”up to something,” perhaps a merger with another Californiaproducer, while others are watching the company put increasinglymore gas supplies on the market since buying Elk Hills reservesfrom the federal government two years ago.

Wild speculation last week that Chevron was courting Phillips Petroleum proved to be false as Phillips management told analysts the company is not interested in marriage. The Bartlesville, OK-based major producer is, however, interested in selling GPM Gas Corp., its natural-gas gathering, processing and marketing subsidiary, and may form joint ventures with other companies on chemicals and refining and marketing so that it can concentrate mainly on exploration and production.

Wild speculation last week that Chevron was courting PhillipsPetroleum proved to be false as Phillips management told analyststhe company is not interested in merging with anybody. But theBartlesville, OK-based energy company is planning on selling GPMGas Corp., its natural-gas gathering, processing and marketingsubsidiary, and may form joint ventures with other companies onchemicals and refining and marketing so that it can concentratemainly on exploration and production.

Speculation around the much anticipated storage report continuedto run rampant yesterday on trading floors across the natural gasindustry and that coupled with steady fund buying was enough tolift the futures market higher for the third day in a row. TheSeptember contract raced off to a fast start, but was unable toretest the $2.72 high set last Thursday. After notching a $2.66high trade around 10:30 EST the prompt month was left to chopsideways before eventually settling up 4.4 cents at $2.642.

Amid a swirl of pre-AGA storage speculation, the futures marketcontinued lower Wednesday, touching its lowest level so far thismonth. After a lower opening, the July contract quickly mapped outits high trade of the day at $2.36, before slipping 4 cents tofinish at $2.327. Estimated volume of 65,584 injected some lifeinto the market, following sub-45,000 trading sessions Monday andTuesday.

American Gas Association President David Parker yesterdaydismissed industry speculation that the gas LDC group is exploringthe prospect of combining with its electric counterpart, the EdisonElectric Institute.