Yields

Abundant natural gas, including shale, is playing a significant role in continuing the three-year slide in electric power prices and the downbeat outlook for independent power producers, say analysts.

With two new joint ventures in hand, Consol Energy Inc. is gearing up for a big year in Appalachian shale.

Much like last month’s swing market ended on Oct. 28, triple-digit price losses were the order of the day at all points Friday. Moderating weekend weather trends in the South, Midwest, Northeast and parts of the West, along with the previous day’s plunges in energy futures and the bearish psychology of record storage inventories, were chiefly responsible for the tremendous softening.

Much like last month’s swing market ended on Oct. 28, triple-digit price losses were the order of the day at all points Friday. Moderating weekend weather trends in the South, Midwest, Northeast and parts of the West, along with the previous day’s plunges in energy futures and the bearish psychology of record storage inventories, were chiefly responsible for the tremendous softening.

FERC’s technical conference on the reporting of natural gas storage information last week offered some new ideas, according to a Commission official who said staff would be evaluating testimony and offering the commissioners several options.

Price declines stayed rather moderate for the most part Wednesday, and heavy cooling load in much of the Southwest kept several Rockies, San Juan Basin and Southern California border points in the vicinity of flat. But outside of the western heat, the cash market was losing virtually all of its remaining vestiges of support.

Mild weather throughout most of the North American continent continued to work its price-depressing magic Friday, augmented by day-earlier weakness in energy futures and to a lesser extent by the typical slump of industrial load over a weekend.

An absence of severe weather threats, lower industrial load over a weekend, and the screen’s previous-day quarter decline set the stage for further mostly moderate softening in a sedate Friday market. A small uptick in Tennessee Zone 6 ran contrary to losses at all other points ranging from less than a nickel to nearly 30 cents.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. on Thursday announced a natural gas discovery at its Atlas prospect in the eastern Gulf of Mexico (GOM). The discovery well is located on Lloyd Ridge Block 50, about 175 miles southeast of New Orleans.