Traded

Plans for a new publicly traded energy giant were revealedyesterday, as Duke Energy and Phillips Petroleum announced theirintentions to form a midstream company called Duke Energy FieldServices (DEFS). Expected to have an enterprise value of between $5and $6 billion, DEFS will be the result of a merger of Duke’sgathering and processing businesses (also called Duke Energy FieldServices) with Phillip’s Gas Processing and Marketing (GPM) unit.Subject to approval by the FTC under the Hart-Scott-Rodino act, thedeal is expected to close by the first quarter 2000.

Fresh off a two-day, 24-cent price drop, natural gas futurestraded unchanged for most of the session Tuesday with light buyingand selling by trade accounts matching up nearly perfectly. Bymid-afternoon, however, it looked as if bears would make it atrifecta, as they successfully etched new lows for the Januarycontract down to $2.21. But after remaining on the sidelines formost of the day, speculators were seen as aggressive buyers intothe final bell. That enabled the January contract to finish on apositive note, up 4.7-cents to $2.271.

Convergence obviously is alive and well in the energy industry, but it’s not exactly what a lot of people seem to think it is, according to Dynegy CEO Chuck Watson. Convergence isn’t just about gas and power coming together. It’s not just marketing gas and power and growing market share.

Convergence obviously is alive and well in the energy industry,but it’s not exactly what a lot of people seem to think, accordingto Dynegy CEO Chuck Watson. Convergence isn’t just about gas andpower coming together. It’s not just marketing gas and power andgrowing market share.

Enough gas got traded early Thursday at prices within a penny ortwo of flat that late weakness reported at many points failed todrag down averages from Wednesday. However, the late downturns weretaken as a harbinger of continued softening today, especially withthe market subject to the normal drop in weekend demand. Themarket felt kind of juiced up Wednesday but was losing its steamThursday, according to a Southwest trader. He saw “some realsoftness” at the end in Permian Basin.

Everyone seems to be “joining the slow club,” one sourceremarked Wednesday as the last day of June futures trading onlynudged June baseload and the day-trading markets slightly higherfrom the holding patterns established Tuesday. Today will be muchmore active, he said, because the Nymex closes early Friday due toMemorial Day, and time is running out to get deals done.

The futures market sauntered into the weekend Friday in a verysimilar fashion to the way it traded throughout the week-in aboring, hum-drum manner. The March contract was limited to a paltry2.5-cent trading range, slipping 0.1 cents lower to settle at$1.745. Estimated volume was evidence of the quiet trading as only42,085 contracts changed hands.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange announced Thursday it has filedfor regulatory approval to offer exchange-traded, heating degreeday (HDD) and cooling degree day (CDD) futures and optionscontracts. The CME said these indexes will help companies manageweather-related financial risks. A start date will be set afterCommodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) approval.

The futures market traded lower for most of the day Thursdaybefore cratering in the last 10 minutes of the trading session,leaving the market at its lowest level in years. The Septembercontract plumbed the lowest of any of the contracts, printing lowsat $1.61 just after 3:00 EST. However, an average of all tradesduring the last 30 minutes produced a final settlement of $1.672, a9-cent loss for the day and 27.5 for the week.