Turmoil

Natural gas futures jumped higher Wednesday afternoon in sympathy with a similar rise in the petroleum complex, which was sparked by an escalation of turmoil in Nigeria and U.S. refinery outages. After putting in a low of $6.560 in morning trade, June natural gas took off higher in the afternoon to record a high of $6.920 before closing at $6.900, up 31.9 cents on the day.

After nearly one-and-a-half years of energy market turmoil since the fall of Enron Corp., NRG Energy became the first merchant power company to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday. The Minneapolis-based merchant power subsidiary of Xcel Energy filed its long anticipated voluntary petition for reorganization in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Several affiliates, including NRG Power Marketing and NRG Northeast Generating LLC, also filed for protection, but parent company Xcel was not pulled under.

Despite the turmoil in the energy and power industry, the North American natural gas transportation business remains “solidly investment grade,” according to a report by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P).

Energy companies need to embrace trading as a necessary core component of their energy operations and must develop a trading strategy that “encapsulates effective governance and active risk management” in order to survive, according to a new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers titled “Energy Trading – Re-establishing Sound Foundations.”

The report warns that further difficulties could be on the horizon and many existing players may cease to have a viable independent future unless they adapt effectively to the changing market.

The ongoing turmoil in the energy industry and residue of California’s fiscal and energy-related struggles have made it harder on the state’s largest natural gas buyer — the California General Service Department’s gas aggregation program covers more than 100 government facilities scattered across the state. The deadline for bids for up to 5 Bcf of supplies over a five-year period starting April 2003 will conclude this week (Aug. 23).

The ongoing turmoil in the energy industry and residue of California’s fiscal and energy-related struggles have made it harder on the state’s largest natural gas buyer — the California General Service Department’s gas aggregation program covers more than 100 government facilities scattered across the state. The deadline for bids for up to 5 Bcf of supplies over a five-year period starting April 2003 will conclude later this month (Aug. 23).

In the wake of the current turmoil surrounding Williams Cos., Williams Energy Partners LP took the chance to inform the investment community that it is an “extremely healthy” stand-alone company. The partnership held an unscheduled conference call last week to address investment concerns that dropped the company’s stock price by $6 (more than 19%) in Tuesday trading.

In the wake of the current turmoil surrounding Williams Cos., Williams Energy Partners LP took the chance to inform the investment community that it is an “extremely healthy” stand-alone company. The partnership held an unscheduled conference call to address investment concerns that dropped the company’s stock price by $6.00 (more than 19%) in Tuesday trading.