Uncertainty

Natural gas futures trading on Thursday continued to reflect the industry’s uncertainty as to what the long-term ramifications of Hurricane Katrina will be on the commodity. After receiving a somewhat bullish 58 Bcf storage report, October natural gas seesawed back and forth for the remainder of the session before settling at a record $11.757, up 28.5 cents from Wednesday.

Powered by uncertainty on where Hurricane Katrina’s second landfall will be, September natural gas futures on Friday made another stab at the psychological $10 level. Ahead of its expiration on Monday, the contract matched Wednesday’s $10.02 high, but once again failed to test the all-time regular session high of $10.10.

Energen Corp. on Monday hedged an additional 5 Bcf of its 2006 natural gas production at $7.50/Mcf and 360,000 bbl of its sour oil output at $55.21/bbl, and with the additional uncertainty of price volatility removed, raised its 2006 earnings guidance to a range of $2.55-2.75/diluted share

Today’s historically high natural gas and oil prices globally are a major attraction, but uncertainty in the electricity regulation sector has a dampening effect as venture capital funds increasingly eye the energy space — particularly so-called clean energy — as good places to invest. The fact that energy touches such a wide variety of industries worldwide is a major attraction, according to one venture capitalist who is helping a new California green energy investment fund get started as an offshoot of Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s bankruptcy settlement implemented a year ago.

Natural gas producers, consumers and regulators in North America and Europe will wrestle with new supply uncertainty, fuel alternatives, and volatile markets and prices for at least the next three years, according to Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) researchers.

Natural gas producers, consumers and regulators in North America and Europe will wrestle with new supply uncertainty, fuel alternatives, and volatile markets and prices for at least the next three years, according to Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) researchers.

The scale of the regulatory hurdles faced by the Mackenzie Valley Gas Pipeline project in Canada “rivals the complexity and uncertainty of regulatory and policy making found anywhere overseas,” according to gas analyst Paul Ziff.

The scale of the regulatory hurdles faced by the Mackenzie Valley Gas Pipeline project in Canada “rivals the complexity and uncertainty of regulatory and policy making found anywhere overseas,” according to gas analyst Paul Ziff.

With New Mexico state leaders on record as strongly opposed, a long federal review process is now under way on Houston-based El Paso Corp.’s plans to drill for coal-bed methane in a pristine national forest region in the north-northeast part of the state. Even with political help from the White House, El Paso has indicated in some local news reports that it may not be interested in pursuing drilling leases.