Wrapped

Cash natural gas prices dropped about 5 cents overall Thursday as traders wrapped up most deals prior to the release of government storage data. Weakness was widespread with only a handful of Northeast and eastern points staying flat or showing slight gains.

Integrys Energy Group Inc. has wrapped up its risk-reduction program for subsidiary Integrys Energy Services Inc. The company said Wednesday it expects to have divested “a substantial portion of its nonregulated business” by early in the second quarter.

The U.S. West’s abundant wildlife and scenic beauty, which often are adjacent to prolific oil and natural gas reserves, have become a riddle wrapped in a mystery for regulators, to paraphrase Winston Churchill. The puzzle may never be adequately solved by everyone’s standards, but the Western Governors’ Association (WGA) took a big step last week by establishing a regional council to ensure that wildlife habitat is protected.

The U.S. West’s abundant wildlife and scenic beauty, which often are adjacent to prolific oil and natural gas reserves, have become a riddle wrapped in a mystery for regulators, to paraphrase Winston Churchill. The puzzle may never be adequately solved by everyone’s standards, but the Western Governors’ Association (WGA) took a big step Sunday in establishing a regional council to ensure that wildlife habitat is protected.

Former Dynegy Inc. trader Jeff Hornback wrapped up his testimony in a second full day on the stand in the Houston trial of his former Dynegy colleague Michelle Valencia, and Greg Singleton, a former trader with El Paso Merchant Energy.

Loews Corp.’s Owensboro, KY-based subsidiary TGT Pipeline LLC has wrapped up its $1.136 billion purchase of Gulf South Pipeline LP from Entergy-Koch, which also is in the process of being sold. The addition completed just before the end of 2004 gives Loews, a company with diverse business interests, a second major gas pipeline operation and a much larger presence in the energy industry.

Loews Corp.’s Owensboro, KY-based subsidiary TGT Pipeline LLC on Wednesday wrapped up its $1.136 billion purchase of Gulf South Pipeline LP from Entergy-Koch LP, which also is in the process of being sold. The addition gives Loews, a company with diverse business interests, a second major gas pipeline operation and a much larger presence in the energy industry.

The delayed acquisition of Panhandle Pipeline Co. from CMS Energy will be wrapped up before June 30 and will immediately add value, Pennsylvania-based Southern Union Co. said on Wednesday in announcing double-digit earnings growth in the first quarter. Southern Union said its net income, including income from discontinued operations, was $63.9 million, or $1.14/diluted share, compared with $43.7 million, or 78 cents/share for the same period last year. On a continuing operations basis, first-quarter earnings were up 19% to $46.2 million, or 83 cents/share.

Gulf South said unscheduled maintenance that began Monday on unit #3 at Bistineau (LA) Station, originally expected to be wrapped up Wednesday afternoon, has been extended through Friday. The work is reducing injection capacity at the pipeline’s Bistineau Storage Facility by 75 MMcf/d.