Sudden

Bullied by sudden and seldom-seen agreement between private and governmental weather forecasting agencies, natural gas futures spiked higher Wednesday evening and Thursday as traders initiated long positions they had liquidated over the past several weeks. Nymex reopened with a bang at 7 p.m. EST Wednesday evening as prices rebounded more than a dime off Tuesday’s $4.789 close.

Before its sudden downfall, Enron remained at the top of the charts in energy trading and marketing, holding the lead for most of the history of NGI’s ranking of the largest gas marketing companies by volumes sold. It held that spot in the third quarter, but that soon will change, and the impact of Enron’s fall probably will reduce transaction volumes among the other top marketers in the near term, according to Ronald Barone of UBS Warburg.

Before its sudden downfall, Enron remained at the top of the charts in energy trading and marketing, holding the lead for most of the history of NGI’s ranking of the largest gas marketing companies by volumes sold. It held that spot in the third quarter, but that soon will change, and the impact of Enron’s fall probably will reduce transaction volumes among the other top marketers in the near term, according to Ronald Barone of UBS Warburg.

Last week’s sudden jolt upward in spot natural gas prices on anticipation of a cold winter was another indication of the “fickleness” of the market, according to the California Energy Commission’s chief natural gas watcher, Bill Wood, who was dismayed by the latest price swing last Tuesday.

This week’s sudden jolt upward in spot natural gas prices on anticipation of a cold winter is another indication of the “fickleness” of the market, according to the California Energy Commission’s chief natural gas watcher, Bill Wood, who was dismayed by the latest price swing Wednesday.

The energy industry was bracing last week for a sea change in the fate of energy legislation in the U.S. Senate as a result of the sudden Democratic take-over of leadership in that chamber that installs Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) as chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and relegates Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-AK) to the post of ranking minority member.

All of a sudden proposed pipeline laterals from New England toLong Island, NY, have become all the craze, as the second pipelineproject in a week was announced yesterday, this time by TennesseeGas Pipeline Co. to serve roughly the same area. The El Pasobusiness unit announced the commencement of an open season for itsConnecticut-Long Island project, which is open for non-bindingnominations until Feb. 28.

The sudden 20-cent jump in gas futures prices yesterdayinitially left most of the cash market behind with cold weathercurrently confined mostly to the Rockies and upper Midwest.However, late in the day cash prices gained enough ground to boostdaily averages up about a dime.

When things just started to look like they were getting better,all of a sudden they just got worse for MCN Energy Group. After atough year in 1998 and the planned divestiture of its entireexploration and production division, MCN Energy Group said lastweek it discovered serious financial accounting manipulation withinits gas marketing subsidiary, CoEnergy Trading, and will have torecalculate its earnings going back to 1997.