Turn

Bullied by winter weather — both outside their windows and in the latest forecasts — futures traders were quick to react Wednesday morning as they propelled natural gas prices above the $3.00 mark for the first time since November. In dramatic fashion, the January contract not only gapped higher on the open, but also gapped above psychological support at $3.00. However, after posting its $3.02 opening trade, the market fell lower throughout the session as traders looked apprehensively to today’s release of fresh storage data. The prompt month settled with a slim, 1.6-cent advance at $2.911, more than a dime off its high for the session.

As laid-off Enron Corp. employees faced the next step of looking for another job, the City of Houston opened a job fair at the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown on Thursday and ex-employees used their technology skills to tap into the place that the company had once dominated: the Internet.

In an ironic twist, the same Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) administrative law judge (ALJ) who had cited Oneok for contempt in May for refusing to turn over documents related to an OCC investigation last Wednesday granted the company’s motion for a stay in the state attorney general’s request that the company be cited for contempt for not turning over the same documents related to natural gas sales made last winter.

In an ironic twist, the same Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) administrative law judge (ALJ) who had cited Oneok for contempt in May for refusing to turn over documents related to an OCC investigation on Wednesday granted the company’s motion for a stay in the state attorney general’s request that the company be cited for contempt for not turning over the same documents related to natural gas sales made last winter.

Much of the market seemingly was put on hold Tuesday as flat to slightly higher numbers prevailed. Tropical Storm Chantal continued to recede as a potential threat to Gulf production, and hot weather demand remained generally light outside the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast and Midcontinent areas. Mostly, though, the market was reported as very quiet as the trading community awaited this afternoon’s first release of new AGA storage data since last week’s bombshell of a low volume.

After failing to move through Monday’s $3.40 high, natural gas futures checked lower yesterday, as traders liquidated longs amid waning tropical storm concerns and ahead of potentially bearish storage data to be released today. Although modest advances were seen in the afternoon, losses sustained earlier in the day were more sizeable, leaving September with a 5.7-cent decline to finish at $3.296.

San Jose-based Calpine Corp. and Kansas City-based Aquila Inc. announced that the Aries Power Project near Pleasant Hill, MO, has begun simple-cycle operations. The 320 MW gas-fired facility will serve the growing electricity demand in the region.

Even though experts predicted the energy market would make a U-turn, “it is always painful when reality slaps you in the face,” according to Raymond James Energy’s “Stat of the Week.” As early as April, energy analyst Marshall Adkins predicted mid-$5/Mcf prices were not going to be sustainable with expected large gas injections. Through July, he predicts natural gas prices will continue to fall.

The cash market remained in a softening mode for the most part Wednesday, but only a couple of declines exceeded a dime and some points, particularly in the Rockies and at the Southern California border, registered moderate gains.