Yesterday

Thought convicted Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling was yesterday’s news? Think again. Skilling’s legal team is scheduled to argue in federal appeals court Wednesday that its client’s convictions should be dismissed because of “egregious” misconduct by the Enron Task Force. Based on evidence that the defense recently obtained and on recent appeals court rulings, Skilling may stand a chance to see some of his convictions thrown out.

In what a producer called “trading much like yesterday’s,” cash prices continued to move higher Tuesday based on the screen’s day-earlier gain of nearly a nickel and enough lingering cold weather in the North and parts of the West to keep heating load from disappearing like the calendar winter season did three days ago.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission yesterday gave thefinal go-ahead, subject to certain conditions, to NE Hub PartnersL.P. to build its controversial underground storage caverns inTioga County, PA. The Commission action was a major blow to CNGTransmission and Penn Fuel Gas Inc., which have long protested NEHUB’s proposed facility because it would be located directly belowtheir existing Tioga Storage Complex. They contend their storagefacility could be “irreparably damaged” when NE Hub drills throughtheir storage complex to leach the caverns in which it plans tostore natural gas.

The “vast majority” of customers that lost power as a result of the massive wave of electrical outages that hit the Northeast, Great Lakes and eastern Canada on Thursday were being returned to service Friday, the head of the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) said at the end of the week.

After spending less than 5 minutes below $4.00 last Friday, natural gas futures rebounded convincingly yesterday as traders were once again hit with another bullish weather forecast to start the week. The resultant buying pressed prices higher throughout the trading session. A round of locally-led short-covering put a bow on it for bulls, as the November contract rallied at the close to settle at $4.176 on its penultimate trading day, up 14.8 cents from Friday and just a few ticks off its $4.19 high Monday. Considering it was the day before expiration, trading was light as just 84,638 contracts changed hands.

If early reports are confirmed, the irony will not be lost on energy-starved Californians. Yesterday, Tri-Valley Oil & Gas Co. (TVOG) reported it might have found the West’s largest natural gas field ever near Delano, CA, estimating it holds 3 Tcf in reserves. TVOG said its Sunrise Natural Gas Project might be one of the largest onshore finds in more than half a century.

Until yesterday the February aftermarket was rather dull and stodgy, with small price movements up or down (mostly up) characterizing each trading day. But the pattern got broken Tuesday with upticks consistently in the range of 15-20 cents reported for both eastern and western points. Larger gains of 30-50 cents were recorded in the Northeast, with a few citygate points seeing WACOGs above $3. (Intra-Alberta and Westcoast Station 2 were also above $3 in Canadian dollars.)

El Paso said its Line 1,200 outage between the Williams and Seligman stations continued yesterday, reducing the capacity of the North Mainline by 40 MMcf/d. The current outage at Dilkon B turbine is causing a reduction of an additional 35 MMcf/d, for a total 75 MMcf/d. A completion date for Dilkon B has not yet been determined. If you have operational or scheduling questions, call your scheduling representative at (719) 520-4706. The pipeline also was in the process of installing a new 10-foot section of pipe downstream of its Bondad station on Line 1218. Pigging found the section to be flawed and in need of replacement, an El Paso spokeswoman said. The line was taken out of service for emergency repairs Wednesday, reducing the capacity through Bondad Station by 190 MMcf/d. The reduction was effective through Thursday but the work is expected to be completed for Friday flows.

Aquila Inc. made its initial public offering in grand style yesterday, becoming one of the hottest traded IPOs in a lackluster market, coming off the blocks at an opening price of $29.75 on the New York Stock Exchange — almost 25% above its offering price of $24. It was the third-most actively traded stock on the NYSE, with more than 7.8 million shares changing hands.