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In the good news department: Chevron Canada Resources said thatits reported natural gas production volumes from its Fort LiardK-29 well in the southwestern part of the Northwest Territories areabout 25 MMcf/d more than it had estimated.

Four stakeholders committees, set up last March by the PublicService Commission (PSC), have now identified the issues in thestate of New York’s stalled retail deregulation process forelectric power and natural gas, and by next spring they expect tohave some solutions — if it isn’t too late.

In the wake of a summer-long lamenting of the dysfunction, ifnot outright death, of California’s attempt at creating competitiveretail electricity markets, the state’s small remaining band ofnonutility retailers, or “energy service providers” (ESPs), isweighing in with state officials and utilities trying to breathenew life into the state’s once-optimistic drive for moremarket-based energy solutions.

True Quote announced an alliance with Cap Gemini Ernst &Young to provide customers with information technology consulting,as well as system and business integration services. In addition,the companies intend to license truequote.com’s advanced tradingplatform to the global marketplace, including turnkey solutions forother exchanges desiring real-time bid-ask systems. These serviceswill be provided to clients under the “TQ Trade Solutions” brandname. “This alliance will expedite the deployment of integratedsolutions beyond the box, allowing us to provide powerful and cost-effective products to our customers,” said True Quote President andCEO Dennis Crum. True Quote develops and operates independentelectronic energy trading platforms and portals. These systemsprovide virtual trading communities for market participants tocommunicate and transact in an efficient, real-time environment.The truequote.com application architecture is devoted to anopen-access, broker-assisted model that allows equal access to allqualified market participants. Currently, PG&E National EnergyGroup, APB Energy, Inc., Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, EnFORMTechnology LLC and Microsoft Corp. are the principal companiesworking together to develop and promote truequote.com. Thetechnology has been developed using the latest distributedapplication design and development principles, as outlined inMicrosoft’s Distributed Internet Application Architecture (WindowsDNA). For more information visit the company’s website atwww.truequote.com or call Lee Ann Zoeller at (800) 327-1499.

The cash market was a mix of ups and downs as far as priceaverages went Thursday, but sources agreed that the overall trendwas downward as trading proceeded through the morning. Flat quotesdominated again at many points, while sizeable gains and losseswere scattered.

Saying linepack was stabilized, El Paso canceled Thursday anUnauthorized Overpull Penalty situation that had been implementedTuesday.

The cash market went into a general stand-pat mode Wednesday,awaiting developments on the tropical storm, cold weather andstorage fronts. Nearly all points were united in seeing littleprice movement either up or down.

For the second Wednesday in a row, natural gas prices were hitwith a wave of selling seconds after the release of fresh storagenews. However, whereas the market closed on its daily lows lastWednesday, it finished on its highs yesterday as bargain huntinglifted the November contract almost 15 cents above its $5.15 lowWednesday.

Congress already has two measures pending that would help tomoderate the high natural gas bills expected this winter — theClinton administration’s package of energy efficiency measures andshort-term tax incentives for producers, Energy Secretary BillRichardson said yesterday.