Traded

The National Association of Publicly Traded Partnerships (NAPTP) recently warned its members that the Obama administration is considering corporate-level taxation of pass-through entities, such as master limited partnerships (MLP). Such a change could have significant consequences for the midstream energy sector where numerous companies are MLPs. The warning came in a confidential memo circulated to NAPTP members, which was leaked to Reuters. NAPTP Executive Director Mary Lyman would not share the memo with NGI but confirmed its distribution. In an e-mail to NGI, Lyman said, “At this point, there is no public proposal yet; we have simply heard that there is a proposal under discussion as part of corporate tax reform that would tax a broad section of pass-through entities, including MLPs — everything with gross receipts over $50 million.” The administration is still considering tax reform options, according to a White House spokeswoman.

Williams will split itself into two standalone publicly traded corporations, the Tulsa-based company said last week, in a move aimed at value enhancement that has been on the minds of company executives for a while.

Williams will split itself into two standalone publicly traded corporations, the Tulsa-based company said Wednesday, in a move aimed at value enhancement that has been on the minds of company executives for a while.

Natural gas bulls thought they were in the driver’s seat as just prior to the opening of Monday’s floor trading January futures traded as high as $4.547, a stout 13 cent rise relative to Friday’s settlement.

Continuing the wild back and forth trading from one week to the next, December natural gas futures on Friday traded between $3.975 and $4.175 before closing at $4.164, up 15.7 cents from Thursday and 36.5 cents higher than the previous week’s finish.

December natural gas futures traded in a tight 10-cent range on Friday before closing the regular session at $3.937, up 8.1 cents from Thursday’s finish but 10.1 cents lower than the previous week’s close.

Natural gas futures added to the previous day’s gains Wednesday as the November contract traded between $3.748 and $3.888 before coming to a close at $3.865, up 12.2 cents from Tuesday’s finish.

October natural gas futures went off the board on Tuesday with a whimper as the contract traded in a range of just more than a dime before expiring at $3.837, up 3.7 cents from Monday’s close. Taking over as the new front-month contract, November futures added 3.5 cents Tuesday to finish at $3.951.

September natural gas futures traded in a 10-cent range on Tuesday between $4.276 and $4.370 before closing the regular session at $4.297, down 1.2 cents from Monday’s finish.