The three largest gas utilities in western Pennsylvania(Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, Equitable Gas and Peoples Gas) urgedcustomers to press Congress to restore full funding to the LowIncome Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). The three gascompanies began a letter writing campaign on behalf of customers,consumer groups and social service agencies. Elimination of LIHEAPwould impact thousands of customers in Pennsylvania, the utilitiessaid. Nearly 350,000 Pennsylvania families benefit from theprogram. The LIHEAP grant is applied directly to heating bills.Eligibility is based on family income and the number of householdmembers. LIHEAP, a federally-funded program, has been around fortwo decades, but its future was thrown into doubt last month whenthe House Appropriations Committee voted to eliminate the programin fiscal 1999, saving $1.1 billion. President Clinton hadrequested $1.4 billion for LIHEAP in his 1999 budget. Members ofthe U.S. House of Representatives will have another opportunity toconsider LIHEAP funding later this month.
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Much of U.S. Swelters, But Cash Prices Are Cold
Heat makes air and various other gases rise, but it was able todo little if anything to prevent a general rout in natural gas cashprices Tuesday. Decreases straddled the dime level at the greatmajority of points even as heat waves continued to sear much of thenation and sparked some $1,000-plus hourly prices per MWh in somepower markets.
Futures Downtrend Picks Up Steam
Natural Gas futures tumbled late in the trading session Tuesday,breaking momentarily below major support at $1.945, before settlingat $1.951. The nearly 15-cent slide exhibited by the Augustcontract comes on the heels of a nearly 3-week decline, leavingmany traders wondering if Tuesday’s big move lower was the end ofthe downtrend or one just picking up speed. Estimated volume of106,004 contracts favored the later.
Screen Drop Too Late to Stop Heat-Driven Gains
At first glance Monday was one of those not-too-often cases inwhich “following the screen” did not apply to the cash market. Butas a Northeastern buyer pointed out, an initially flat futuresshowing allowed many physical-gas markets to post gains of a nickelor so, and by the time the screen got around to diving by about 7cents, it was too late to affect a lot of cash deals. But late cashtrading did reflect the weakness in the Nymex pit, said a producerwho found late Henry Hub and Katy sales down 3-4 cents fromearly-morning levels.
Futures Not Able to Mimic Cash Gains
The futures market received an early boost from hot weatherspreading up the East coast and a strong over-the-counter marketMonday morning, but the buying ebbed sending Nymex spiraling lowerthroughout the day. “We shot up to $2.20 in a hurry, but the marketcould offer no follow-through above that level. At that point itwas a where-do-we-go-from-here mentality and the answer to thatquestion was down,” an analyst said. That left the August contractoff 7 cents to $2.095.
Dynegy Would Get $50M From Crude Asset Sale
Duke Energy Transport and Trading signed a letter of intent tobuy some of Dynegy’s U.S. crude oil transportation and marketingoperations for $50 to $55 million pre-tax subject to terms of theagreement. The sale is expected to close by the end of the thirdquarter.
Northern Border Earnings Rise on Chicago Project
Northern Border Partners LP reported a 15% increase in earningsper unit. Earnings improvement from the first half of 1997 wasattributed mainly to return on equity from investment in theChicago Project, an $839 million expansion and extension of theNorthern Border Pipeline system.
FERC Sees Merit to Phelps Dodge Complaint
FERC last week came down on the side of Phelps Dodge Corp. in acomplex contract dispute with El Paso Natural Gas. It ordered theTexas-based pipeline to either add the delivery points sought byPhelps Dodge, or to show cause within a month why – due tooperational and capacity constraints – it cannot do so.
Low Crude Prices Hamper OXY Earnings
Occidental Petroleum Corp. reported a $28 million increase innet income for the second quarter compared with 2Q97. Resultsreflected a $290 million pretax gain from the sale of certain oiland gas assets. Earnings before special items were $47 million forthe second quarter of 1998, compared with $138 million for the sameperiod in 1997, reflecting lower crude oil prices.
Cash Markets Hold Ground, Inch Up on Forecasts
Cash prices either remained flat or rebounded a cent or two atmost delivery points across the board on Friday, mainly as resultof recent forecasts of above normal temperatures throughout thecountry, and the fact that the relatively low prices made for anattractive storage play opportunity. In addition to minor losses inthe Northeastern markets, Western and Rockies points, whichdemonstrated the most strength during the past week, alsoregistered declines of between 1-4 cents.
