Ushered

Canadian exporters scored an 18.7% revenue gain in the last natural gas contract year. But the period also ushered in a pronounced downturn in the volume of trade with the United States. Improved prices accounted for virtually all of the increase in the total value of Canadian gas exports in the 12 months that ended Oct. 31, show records kept by the National Energy Board (NEB).

The New Year ushered in double trouble for Pacific Gas and Electric Co. customers with substantial increases in retail natural gas and electric rates taking effect Jan. 1 and a series of Pacific storms that swept through the state over the weekend, knocking out power to more than 300,000 customers at times. The combination utility was still digging out Tuesday from heavy rains and high winds in the northern half of California that caused widespread flooding and mudslides.

June has ushered a familiar characteristic back into the naturalgas trading pit at Nymex: volatility. Natural gas and volatilityoften are spoken in the same breath. However, for periods thiswinter and spring, the dips and rallies that have drawn manytraders to natural gas have been largely suppressed. But now withsummer clsing in, June has been marked by choppy trading withweather bulls on one side and storage bears on the other. Analystsin the middle are mixed as to who will win the battle, but nearlyeveryone in the market agrees the “V” word is back to stay for awhile.