Stampede

Chesapeake Energy Corp. — whose logo is a blue gas flame — is continuing the stampede to oil and liquids-rich gas plays along with other U.S. independent producers (see related story), reallocating $700 million of spending from gas to oil over this year and next and pulling some rigs from shale plays (see Daily GPI, Feb. 19).

The two-day stampede, in which April natural gas futures rose more than 40 cents, came to an end Friday as trade and commercial accounts were reluctant to carry long positions over the weekend and sold into local and short-term trader buying. The April contract fell 5.1 cents to $7.269, and the May contract retreated 2.9 cents to $7.406. Friday’s softness, however, did little to reclaim last week’s gains with April posting a 34.5-cent advance for the week.

Despite forecasts for moderating temperatures by midweek, natural gas futures traders picked up Monday where they left off last week as they lifted the market back above the $4.90 level.

As downgrades of energy companies by credit ratings agencies such as Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s have increased with the speed of a runaway freight train, the companies have evolved different strategies to keep their businesses running, one of which is to remove or omit ratings triggers in much of their business.

As downgrades of energy companies by credit ratings agencies such as Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s have increased with the speed of a runaway freight train, the companies have evolved different strategies to keep their businesses running, one of which is to remove or omit ratings triggers in much of their business.

The recent running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, seems prettytame compared to the stampede developing in the gas market. It wasa more hectic Nymex closing day than usual Wednesday as a mildincrease in the last day of trading August futures was accompaniedby what one source called a “pitiful” little AGA storage injectionreport, Michigan electric utilities appealing a day in advance forenergy conservation, a skyrocketing Access session and higher Julyswing numbers. All in all, it added up to an extremely strongmarket that “there doesn’t seem to be any way of stopping,” a Texasmarketer said.