Daily GPI

Cash prices came out of the chute fast Monday morning as coldertemperatures, strong NYMEX prices and a bit of hype tricked mostmarkets into early gains. “A buyer blinked early this morning andsellers took control,” a Tulsa marketer said. The early strengthpushed prices to 5-8 cents above index levels in some cases.However, after the market caught its breath, sellers came out ofthe woodwork to send prices lower and late trades were back nearindex levels. Western prices followed the East’s early lead butresisted the major downturn.

The April Nymex contract fell 2.9 cents to $2.292 on Monday,following the spot month’s failed attempt to clear a majorresistance level. “April was in a two hurdle race today, but ittripped on the second hurdle,” a trader told GPI. “On the one hand,April was able to break out of the symmetrical triangle formationby moving above $2.34. However, April immediately fell back once itfilled in the chart gap at $2.355. There were quite a few standingsell orders at that price, so it’s no wonder the contract fellback,” he said.

El Paso Energy CEO William A. Wise calls his company’s latestplanned acquisition the “yellow brick road” to deep-water Gulf ofMexico gas development. El Paso said it will buy DeepTechInternational’s interests in Leviathan Gas Pipeline through aseries of transactions worth about $450 million. Leviathan GasPipeline Partners produces, processes, gathers, transports andmarkets oil and gas in the offshore Gulf of Mexico.

A bidding war has erupted over British electric company TheEnergy Group with Texas Utilities formally entering the battleMonday with an offer of 810 pence (US$13.37) for each Energy Groupshare – 45 pence more than that of the initial bidder PacifiCorp.The Portland, OR firm was not to be out-penced, however, coming inwith a new offer of 820 pence. PacifiCorp said it has acquired45,987,079 EG shares, representing approximately 8.8% of theBritish Firm’s outstanding share capital.

Prices for the last day of February were mostly softer Friday,but quotes for the Southwest basins, Rockies and intra-Albertareflected flatness. And Canadian exports into Northwest at Sumas,which had been languishing in the low to mid $1.10s at the start ofthe week, climbed to the $1.30 area. The big exception to Westernfirmness was a fall of about a dime at the Southern Californiaborder in wide-ranging numbers.

The April Nymex contract gained 3.7 cents to settle Friday at$2.321, thanks to what one broker called strong fund buying.However, April may be hard pressed to add much more to that.According to the latest Commitments of Traders report,non-commercials extended their net long position by 7,649 contractsto 9,543 during the last two weeks. The broker estimates that 60%of those positions are in April, which would mean these speculatorswould have to wind out of approximately 5,700 April contractswithin the next four weeks. However, if April breaks out of itsrecent technical trading range within the next several days, it islikely funds will add to their overall long position, meaning moreselling pressure would mount on April and May as we approach theApril expiration, a source argued.

After a pause for consideration by one potential taker,TransCanada PipeLines, Canada’s second-biggest pool of natural gassupplies is again looking for new owners. Pan-Alberta Gas’president, Ross Weaver, confirmed, “we are still for sale.”

The next challenge to the troubled Canadian natural gas pipelineestablishment opens May 25, when the National Energy Board hasscheduled the start for hearings on AEC Suffield Gas Pipeline.

Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s Express 500 Project, which offers firmtransportation through the bottlenecked Gulf of Mexico supply area,won more than 1 Bcf/d of capacity requests from customers duringthe project’s first open season. “We believe that this level ofparticipation demonstrates the need for incremental capacity fromthe Gulf Coast,” said Tennessee President John Somerhalder II.