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Natural gas prices will stay sufficiently high in the future to support the increased import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the United States, and San Diego-based Sempra Energy intends to be a leader in the emerging LNG trade, according to Sempra CEO Steve Baum, speaking to a Merrill Lynch energy financial forum in New York City.

NiSource is making some of the last remaining organizational changes since it bought Columbia Energy Group two years ago, announcing actions last week to reduce the size of its management structure. Under the plan, the streamlining will move executive management closer to customers and promote efficiency while lowering costs in response.

For the fourth week in a row, the natural gas futures market was unable to eke out much follow-through on the heels of a big move Thursday. However, in sharp contrast to the weeks ending July 26 and Aug. 2, when prices finished on a bearish note, the last two weeks have ended on a decidedly positive note, as traders have resisted the temptation to take profits ahead of the weekend. At $3.149, the September contract ended Friday up 2.2 cents for the day, and 40.4 cents for the week.

With optimism spreading that natural gas prices will stay firm, drilling is on the rise in western Canada, as producers set out to make supplies catch up to expanded export pipeline capacity. A barometer of field activity — periodic forecasts by a group in close touch, the Petroleum Services Association of Canada (PSAC) — has risen 5% as producers telegraph intentions for the forthcoming fall and winter drilling season with orders and contracts.

The futures traders who managed to stay alert during Tuesday’s lethargic trading session were able to push the March contract below Monday’s $2.08 low and drop the daily close 4.3 cents to $2.074. But the market remained range-bound with very little fundamental news to prompt significant movement. The high for the day was set just after the opening bell at $2.14 and the $2.070 low was reached just prior to the end of regular trading.

Colder temperatures that moved into the central and eastern United States over the extended holiday weekend should stick around for another two weeks, according to Salomon Smith Barney meteorologist Jon Davis.

A panel set up by Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles has recommended that the state not be among the investors in a major natural gas pipeline project from Alaska’s North Slope to markets in Canada and the Lower 48 states. However, the state’s money probably won’t be needed anyway because Senate Democrats last week introduced legislation on Capitol Hill that would provide a $10 billion loan guarantee to the company that submits an application before November 2002 to build the Alaska gas pipeline (see related story).

A panel set up by Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles has recommended that the state not be among the investors in a major natural gas pipeline project from Alaska’s North Slope to markets in Canada and the Lower 48 states. However, the panel’s final report to the governor highlights the multiple benefits of the pipeline project and provides 61 recommendations on how the project should proceed.

Energy officials and utilities in California are looking at continued low retail natural gas prices going into and perhaps through the winter, according to state officials, and the current projections of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. How low the prices may be is not projected, but everyone seems confident that there will be no repeat of last winter’s record price spikes amidst the state’s supply and creditworthiness crises.