Spent

Dynegy CEO Bruce A. Williamson said at the company’s annual meeting Thursday that while it has spent the last couple of years putting assets on the auction block, it may spend the next couple on the lookout for merger and acquisition opportunities, particularly in the power generation business.

After gapping higher at the opening bell, the natural gas futures market spent Tuesday’s trading session in a methodical downward slog. With that the February contract completed its penultimate trading session at $5.716, down 1.1 cents for the day and 16.4 cents off its early-session high. The contract is set to expire at 2:30 p.m. EST Wednesday.

The administration Wednesday urged congressional energy bill conferees to include in their final draft a provision that would dictate the opening of “a small portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to environmentally responsible oil and gas exploration and development,” as well as an 80% loan guarantee for a natural gas pipeline from Alaska.

In announcing its capital and exploratory spending program for 2003, ChevronTexaco Corp. said $2.2 billion of the allocated $8.5 billion will be spent on exploration, production, marketing and transportation infrastructure in the United States. The $8.5 billion figure includes $1.6 billion in affiliates’ expenditures.

Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) executives spent nearly two hours Thursday assuaging investment analysts and investors about the strength of the company and its master limited partnership (MLP), Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) following two days of pummeling on the stock market that had sent share prices down by as much as 20%.

Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) executives spent nearly two hours Thursday assuaging investment analysts and investors about the strength of the company and its master limited partnership (MLP), Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) following two days of pummeling on the stock market that had sent share prices down by as much as 20%.

With a holiday weekend spent mulling sub-$4.00 natural gas under their belts, traders at the New York Mercantile Exchange wasted little time taking the June contract for one last ride lower Tuesday, as they demoted the prompt month through several levels of support. By virtue of its $3.738 final closing price, the June contract limped off the board with a 23.5-cent loss for the day, resting a whopping $1.203 lower than where it was when it began its tenure as prompt contract at Nymex a month ago.

Realizing that bulls had spent all their bullets, bears hadtheir way at Nymex for the second-straight session Wednesday asthey took prices lower in several selling waves. Not even amid-morning rally could dissuade traders from continuing to takeprofits following the market’s precipitous spike to $9.65 earlierin the week. As a result, the January contract was left to slumplower for much of the afternoon, finishing 60.8 cents lower at$7.537.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s chief administrativelaw judge spent part of Wednesday in a telephone meeting with thegeneral manager of the nation’s largest municipal utility, tryingto bring successful closure to a two-year-old stalemate centered onCalifornia’s independent electric grid operator (Cal-ISO). Cal-ISOwould only confirm that they are in the midst of “very sensitive”negotiations, and a resolution wasn’t expected any time soon.