Volatility

As a glaring footnote to natural gas price volatility sparked immediately after the two big Gulf of Mexico hurricanes late last summer, Portland, OR-based Northwest Natural Gas Co. and some of its largest customers are locked in a dispute over retail natural gas deals the utility offered them.

In the wake of the energy price/supply volatility caused by this fall’s devastating Gulf of Mexico hurricanes, the California Energy Commission (CEC) announced last Friday that it has teamed with the federal Department of Energy (DOE) to offer free energy assessments to some of the state’s and nation’s largest energy users. The assessments are designed to help large industrial customers control their rising energy costs and conserve on natural gas supplies that are expected to be tight this winter.

Indicative of the wholesale energy market volatility in approaching winter, Minnesota-based Xcel Energy Monday announced it will lower its electric utility rate increase request to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission by $41.5 million in the wake of what it called “recent decreases in natural gas prices nationwide.”

Washington Gas Light Co. said Monday that Maryland regulators have approved a new rate mechanism to minimize rate and revenue volatility due to changing weather conditions and fluctuating commodity prices. The WGL Holdings utility subsidiary said that it plans to use a revenue normalization adjustment (RNA) for its residential and commercial customers, which account for 40% of the company’s total customer base.

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

Given current global wholesale energy price volatility, Japan is avoiding traditional 20-year contracts for liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports, and that likely will set the model for the rest of the world since Japan is such a dominant importer of the fuel, according to Tom Giles, COO for Mitsubishi’s U.S.-based Sound Energy Solutions (SES).

Given current global wholesale energy price volatility, Japan is avoiding traditional 20-year contracts for liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports, and that likely will set the model for the rest of the world since Japan is such a dominant importer of the fuel, according to Tom Giles, COO for Mitsubishi’s U.S.-based Sound Energy Solutions (SES).

While a number of market participants believe that noncommercial traders are responsible for natural gas futures price spikes and the high level of volatility swirling throughout the market, Tom Saal, a broker with Commercial Brokerage Corp. in Miami, believes the allegations are false.

While a number of market participants believe that noncommercial traders are responsible for natural gas futures price spikes and the high level of volatility swirling throughout the market, Tom Saal, a broker with Commercial Brokerage Corp. in Miami, believes the allegations are false.