Struggle

His struggle in the U.S. Senate to open the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and gas drilling was stymied, but Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski is now making an attempt to open the state waters offshore ANWR to producers.

Consumer ire and political juices are flowing in Montana and Colorado, two northern Rockies states in which out-of-state interests own the major private-sector utilities, and all is not well in land of big skies and snow-capped peaks. Public power plays are being pursued in Montana as South Dakota-based NorthWestern assures that it will be out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a year’s time, and Colorado consumers want Minnesota-based Xcel Energy, its utility holding company, to have a third-party audit of its operations in the state.

Despite a dip in the nearby crude oil market, natural gas futures trudged quietly higher Tuesday as traders wrestled with the contradictory forces of supportive technicals and bearish near-term storage outlooks. It wasn’t pretty, but the April contract did manage to eke out a modest 1.5-cent advance to notch its fifth straight daily advance. It closed at $5.565.

U.S. producers will continue to struggle to grow domestic production this year, and international expansion will be a dominant theme and a key driver behind any mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the oil and gas sector, according to a report by CreditSights analysts.

U.S. producers will continue to struggle to grow domestic production this year, and international expansion will be a dominant theme and a key driver behind any mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the oil and gas sector, according to a report by CreditSights analysts.

Mirant, which is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, reported minimal financial improvements in the third quarter, including a $33 million net loss, or 8 cents/share, compared $41 million, 10 cents/share, in 3Q2002.

With little in the way of fresh fundamental information Friday, the natural gas futures market chopped sideways within a narrow 8.5-cent trading range. Nearly equal amounts of bargain buying and fund selling were seen in the August contract, which followed Thursday’s impressive bounce with a more subdued, 2.8-cent decline to finish the week at $5.022. At 49,295, estimated volume was evidence of the lackluster trading Friday.

As Canada continues its own struggle to refill gas storage, the country’s southern neighbor is feeling the brunt of the impact in the form of severely reduced imports, according to Jefferies & Co. analyst Frank Bracken. For the first week of June, Canadian exports logged their lowest weekly level in six-years.

As Canada continues its own struggle to refill gas storage, the country’s southern neighbor is feeling the brunt of the impact in the form of severely reduced imports, according to Jefferies & Co. analyst Frank Bracken. For the first week of June, Canadian exports logged their lowest weekly level in six-years.