Daily GPI

Communications projects are high on the list of announcementsand pronouncements at a Houston energy conference this week, withcompany executives telling analysts that the Internet, bandwidthand telecommunications may surpass traditional energy earnings inthe next decade.

Cool fall weather and rapid breakdown of the storm formerlyknown as Hurricane Gordon were enough to take the wind out of thecash market’s sails yesterday as prices plummeted across the board.

Since notching a $2.12 low during the first week of this year,the natural gas futures market has shown a propensity to look pastvirtually all bearish information and focus on anything out therethat is remotely bullish. Witness yesterday, when prices sank earlyon fizzled hurricane fears only to rebound fiercely as tradersrallied natural gas in sympathy with spiking crude oil prices.

The thunderstorm formerly known as Hurricane Gordon moved toofar east too fast then slowed too much too soon to have much impacton the key U.S. oil and gas production areas off the Gulf ofMexico. By Monday afternoon, the evacuated offshore workers hadbeen returned to their rigs and power lost in Florida communitieshad been restored.

California energy officials held their breath Monday and bracedthemselves for what might be the severest test yet for the state’soverworked electricity infrastructure and overheated wholesalepower market.

Nine energy traders have teamed up to form the Energy TradingStandards Group, an open consortium that plans to work towarddeveloping standards to automate the sale of wholesale energy andto improve information sharing among traders.

BP further cemented its position as the top natural gas producerin North America last week when it acquired the outstandingminority interest in Houston-based independent producer VastarResources Inc.

The first of the marketers to bow out of the natural gasderegulation era in Georgia is going on the offensive almost a yearafter the company filed for bankruptcy. Peachtree Natural Gas whichis still in bankruptcy court, filed a $50 million suit against AGLResources, Atlanta Gas Light and billing provider Utilipro in theState Court of Fulton County.

Natural gas bills for residential households this winter couldbe as much as 40% higher than last heating season, with the Midwestlikely to feel the pinch the most, according to a market overviewpresented by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) last week.