Wednesday

Boosted by another morning of strong cash prices, the futuresmarket trudged higher Wednesday as traders gained optimism thatprices may have found a bottom. But that speculation could be a bitpremature because as soon as bulls finished pushing the Januarycontract 1.7 cents higher to its $2.288 settlement the bears tookit lower in after-hours trading. Even a bullish storage report didnot help to dissuade the late selling pressure.

The Energy Information Administration dropped a pre-holidaydowner into U.S. festivities last Wednesday, reporting 1998 U.S.crude oil and natural gas reserve additions chased lower pricesdeep into the minus column.

The Energy Information Administration dropped a pre-holidaydowner into U.S. festivities last Wednesday, reporting 1998 U.S.crude oil and natural gas reserve additions chased lower pricesdeep into the minus column.

After a two-day, 20-cent price drop to begin the week, thefutures market held its ground Wednesday as traders waited on thesidelines in anticipation of fresh supply and demand news releasedyesterday evening. By virtue of its 0.5-cent advance and higherhigh and lower low, yesterday’s session completed a bullish outsideup day on the daily charts. But despite the positive movement, thespot contract was unable to fill in a key chart gap up to $2.52.

Following a knee-jerk buying frenzy during Wednesday night’sAccess trading session, natural gas futures shuffled mostlysideways yesterday as traders continued to weigh the impact oftechnical factors and weather forecasts on the already inflatedprice level. Including Access, the November contract was up 8.6cents at $3.064 yesterday, 0.1 cent less than the opening price.

Florida Gas Transmission extended a market-area Overage Alert Daynotice (see Daily GPI, Oct. 13) throughWednesday but loosened the tolerance for daily negative imbalancesfrom 5% to 8%.

Florida Gas Transmission extended an Overage Alert Day noticeinto its third day Wednesday, continuing to cite high market-areademand. However, Pacific Gas & Electric is lifting itslow-linepack OFO today.

Florida Gas Transmission extended an Overage Alert Day noticefor its market area (see Daily GPI, Sept. 29) through Wednesday butloosened the tolerance for negative imbalances to 6%.

FERC commissioners Wednesday finalized revisions to rules foroff-the-record communications between commissioners and key staffand persons outside the Commission. Chairman James Hoecker saidthe rule provides a balance that “will supply the clarity andprecision we need. They should facilitate better access toinformation while ensuring the integrity of our processes.”