The general purpose of the Natural Gas & Power Email Discussion Group is to facilitate the free exchange of useful information between Natural Gas & Power producers, end-users, utilities, marketers, traders, and related entities. To provide a more detailed overview, the remainder of this page is organized in the following sections:
As stated in the overview section, the general purpose of the Natural Gas & Power Email Discussion Group is to facilitate the free exchange of useful information between Natural Gas & Power producers, end-users, utilities, marketers, traders, and related entities. More specifically, the type of information exchanged should include information relating to the production, transportation, utilization, marketing, trading, and regulation/deregulation of Natural Gas & Power. The information should be communicated in a format and manner that enables producers, end-users, utilities, marketers, and traders to make better informed strategic and tactical decisions relative to their participation in the Natural Gas & Power markets. Examples of appropriate subjects include, but should not be limited to:
| Fundamental supply/demand issues | Transportation | Interaction with other markets |
| Weather | Prices | Regulation/deregulation |
| Storage | Market analysis | Risk management |
There are a few structural parameters that have been established to aid in protecting your time and to aid in ensuring that you only receive messages that are "on topic". These structural parameters include:
There are two addresses with which you need to be concerned:
We would appreciate your feedback regarding how we can make this discussion forum more informative and useful to you. Please feel free to email Jim Hight or Ray Sasaki directly. Or, click on the Comments button to utilize a feedback form.
The following table lists the participants, along with a synopsis of their introductory comments, who have provided introductory comments about themselves, their companies, and their interests.
| Bellows, Roger | I work for Alberta Power Limited, in Edmonton, Alberta. The company serves about one-third of the electrical load in Alberta. Most of our generation is fueled by coal which is mined adjacent to the power station. We also consume about 10 million GJ per year of natural gas. Alberta Power is not a gas utility but is part of the ATCO group that owns the two major gas LDC's in Alberta. I am directly involved with all of our fuel management activities. I also get involved with regulatory matters. With respect to natural gas, we participate directly in the intra-Alberta market which has been deregulated for over 10 years. We will soon experience further changes to the gas transportation industry. The electric power business in Alberta had a major change in regulation, effective January 1, 1996. We are still reeling from the extra work that was involved. |
| Briggs, Gifford & Don | I am the Membership/Meeting Coordinator for the Louisiana Independent Oil and Gas Association (LIOGA). I am currently a college student enrolled at LSU. My father, Don Briggs, is the president of LIOGA and has been in the oil and gas field for over 30 years. I subscribed to this for both He and I. I handle the Internet part but he will probably respond to any questions anyone has. |
| Brown, Randy | I fix broken trading companies. I am a professional trader, hedger and speculator. I am usually hired to "turn-around" mediocre to poor performing small to intermediate size energy trading firms. I specialize in trading discipline and management. Most recent success was getting Madison Gas and Electric's sub Great Lakes Energy Corporation financially strong enough that is was taken over by National Gas and Electric. I publish a daily and weekly fax report projecting price levels prior to the open of the markets. I give private trading courses to industrial buyers and provide support through the educational process. I've traded since 1980 and started trading natural gas in 1990. I started Aquila's first risk management group in 1990. My consulting, trading and educational services are all done through my company, Frontier Commodities. My hobby is analysis of pre-computer commodity trading systems (ie Gann). I write and trade some systems myself. I am very interested to learn more about the "guarded" trading systems used by financial houses and their use of "forward curve" trading systems. |
| Busch, Jim | I am a Regulatory Economist for the Missouri Public Service Commission. I have been on the job for just over one month now. My primary duties are to look at the economic issues involving the natural gas industry. The issues that are my primary focus are market power, unbundling, and risk management as it pertains to the LDCs. |
| Corcoran, David | My interest in the natural gas industry is in the field of speculation. My trading method is fundamentally based and mathematically probable in nature. I am interest in any and all comments on the NYMEX contracts - weather effects, AGA estimates and price forecasts. |
| Crutchfield, Joe | GASearch maintains databases on all Texas oil and gas production and wellhead pricing since 1975. We provide reports for individual lease prices received at the wellhead as well as customized reports for issues like actual prices received on all the pipelines in Texas, also by County, also by RRC District. We provide consulting services for strategic planning and for litigation support. If you have a need for looking at our services, please feel free to visit our web site. If you have any natural gas related pricing issues, please let me know and I will try my best to help or give direction. |
| Ellis, George | I manage the natural gas desk for GSC Energy in Atlanta, GA and look forward to sharing views and ideas about all topics related to the energy industry. GSC Energy provides price risk management services to the energy sector and was formed in 1989. Our services include price risk management education in the form of public and private workshops in the U.S. and Canada; consulting services where we identify a firm's price risks, then assist in the development of a hedging program that includes policy, procedures, and strategies; and futures brokerage where we work exclusively with commercial firms. Prior to joining GSC Energy in 1993 I worked on the New York Mercantile Exchange in the Heating Oil and Crude Oil pits, then the COMEX in the gold trading ring. My primary function as natural gas trading manager here is to provide quality futures brokerage to our clients with an emphasis on helping producers and end-users mitigate price risk, while providing marketers with financial tools that assist them in offering pricing options to their customers and securing margins for themselves. My analysis of the market is primarily fundamental with basis playing a large part. Our firm maintains a historical database of index basis for most natural gas pipes nationwide. Each morning I produce a market information bulletin faxed to clients prior to the NYMEX open. I would be happy to add anyone to the list for a while if interested. |
| Enderlin, Craig | My partner (Lynn Meyer) and I are owners of an Introducing Broker (IB) in the commodities brokerage business. We have brokerage relationships with several energy companies who hedge production. We have become interested in the future of electricity deregulation and its impact on the energy markets. We are currently in the process of plunging into the FERC and NOPRA textbooks to understand where the opportunities may lie. Our area of interest is obviously in electricity brokerage and trading but we are also interested in power marketing, pricing, rules, regulations, derivatives, etc. (the whole enchilada). Speaking of enchiladas, if I can assist you with anything about San Antonio (where are the best margs, Mexican eats), don't hesitate to call (210 490-1320) or email me. I look forward to participating in the discussions. |
| Ermino, Rico | I work in the area of Strategic Planning for the National Power Corporation in the Philippines. My specialty is systems planning and have been a member for our natural gas project. Like any other utility, the Philippine Electric Sector is in the process of restructuring and privatization. One area that is concerning us is the issue of stranded capacity especially if it involves the natural gas project which the government is pushing us to do. I hope I can get some discussion on this area. |
| Finch, David | I am a Consulting Petroleum Engineer specializing reserve and economic evaluations of oil and gas properties - and gas storage design, installation and operation in the Appalachian Area. My computer skills have evolved to the extent that all of the programs directly utilized in my engineering tasks are of my own design and creation. Although 99% of the current gas storage capacity in the area is monopolized by the big four majors (Columbia Gas, Consolidated Natural Gas, Equitrans and National Fuel), there are still many storage opportunities for entrepreneurs in the marketing and arbitrage mode. (As witnessed by the last two years $2.50 and $3.00 seasonal price swings in Appalachian gas prices.) Before going on my own in 1971, I was a District Engineer for Pennzoil, Inc. and served in various engineering capacities that culminated as a gas storage engineer for Columbia Gas transmission Corporation. |
| Forshaw, Brian E. | I am the Director, Power Supply for the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative (CMEEC). We are a joint-action agency providing the wholesale power needs of municipal electric utilities in CT and MA. We are probably one of the earlier "load aggregation" type entities formed (1976). I have been heavily involved in efforts to "re-form" the New England bulk power market through formation of an Independent System Operator (ISO) and Regional Transmission Group (RTG). It seems as if there are a lot of people on the list so far with a financial/derivatives perspective. I would be interested in hearing views on the implications and interaction between physical markets and financial markets. Other thoughts and ideas about new products and services which meet needs of both the physical and financial markets would be of interest. |
| Greene, Steve | I work in the Strategic Planning area of American Electric Power. For those of you who aren't familiar with AEP, we are an IOU which provides electric service to almost 7 million people in OH, MI, IN, KY, WV, VA and TN. I am located at the corporate headquarters in Columbus, OH. I used to work at Columbia Gas so my areas of interest are in both the electricity and natural gas industries. Deregulation and the inevitable competition it will bring is probably the topic which I find most interesting so I welcome any discussion about that. I also find the U.K. energy market to be very interesting; I think U.S. energy providers may be able to learn a lot about our future from what is currently evolving in the U.K. Aside from those, I'm open to about any other energy-related topics, so I look forward to participating. |
| Hight, Jim | I maintain the Strategies&Tactics WebSite and am the moderator of this group. Background information on myself can be found at http://www.strategies-tactics.com/bio.htm. |
| Huijzer, Elbert | I am a thirty-year young Dutch gas engineer. I graduated at the technical university of Delft (Netherlands) at the faculty of aerospace engineering. In 1992 I started working at GASTEC in the field of materials for gas-appliances. After being secretary of a Dutch and a European standardisation committee on heating appliances I started working in the field of gas supply in 1996. This all happens within GASTEC. If you want to know about GASTEC, please visit our website. The wording there is better than what I make of it. As you perhaps know, Third Party Access is an oncoming subject for the Netherlands. In our research and consultation we try to advise the utilities and manufacturers how to deal with that. But we miss the experience. By participating on this discussion group I hope to be able to have sparring partners on this subject. My contribution for others is more difficult for me to determine, but if you have questions, please contact me and I'll see what I can do for you. |
| Janssen, Rob | I work in Industrial/Commercial Marketing for UGI Utilities in Pennsylvania. On the side, I am also a partner in an Internet company called SurfXpress. SurfXpress designs and maintains its own websites as well as those of clients. I manage a website called Venergy that is an interactive online database of energy marketers. It is designed to be used by energy managers to help them decide who they should choose as a marketer. This site has been operational for several months now, and I am building the base of marketers that are participating. I am primarily in this discussion group because I deal with customers every day that have questions about energy markets. |
| Jemmett, Richard | I am a Manager with Arthur Andersen within their Energy and Utilities Consulting group. Based in the UK, I am involved with gas and electricity utilities across Europe. Before joining Arthur Andersen I spent 16 years with British Gas in both a UK operational role and in international business development and strategy. My main areas of interest are the liberalisation of the gas industry and the development of corporate and business unit level strategies. |
| Kelly, Kevin | I worked for many years in the marketing field, actually branded gasoline marketing. I'm fascinated with the idea of branded electrons. And I'm also writing a book about power marketing. So I'll be listening with interest to natgas and power discussions, and adding my two cents when appropriate. There should be some interesting synergy here with natgas, power, and trading folks all babbling at once! |
| King, Brad | I'm a cash trader for a large Midwest marketing company. I trade nat gas from Texas to Permian to Rockies to Chicago to Michigan and also work transportation pretty heavy. Like most physical players, NYMEX (and all derivatives) play an important part of my life. Disclaimer - The thoughts expressed by ME may not represent those of my management or any other living person. I am interested in fundamental and technical thoughts from people outside of the physical bubble. We spend so much time talking our own "book", we tend to lose our objectivity. To get me started, please reply at your convenience........ What are your thoughts on the hypervolatility of prices during this winter? Please be as global or myopic as you like. Include your niche in the business (I'm still trying to download your summaries!!) |
| Kingsbury, Diane | I am currently the Marketing Director for Triple Point Technology, Inc. Triple Point designs trading software for energy trading concerns (visit our webpage). Prior to working for Triple Point, I was an Analyst for Phibro's Natural Gas and Electricity department. I am interested in keeping abreast of developments in power marketing due to deregulation and maturation of the market. I am specifically interested in information on mergers, product development, new contracts, volume, regulatory issues and the like. |
| Lang, Ellen | I work for a small oil & gas producer in Houston, Texas. The oil production is predominately under long term agreements and our natural gas production (mostly offshore) is sold on the spot market or base load for the month. Because our staff and resources are limited, I use the Internet to educate myself about the direction of the market. We do not have a home page. But you are welcome to contact me through my e-mail. |
| Mathews, Mark | I am a Senior Sourcing Specialist at Bethlehem Steel Corporation responsible for the purchase and management of 40+ BCF of natural gas annually. I have had this position for two years. I am very interested in the Risk Management aspects of natural gas, as well as, trying to persuade industry participants to make natural gas purchasing, managing, and transacting a more customer (end user) friendly process. |
| McGhee, John | I am the Webmaster for an Internet site called the Energy Connection, a collection of petroleum Internet sites; primarily trade associations and producing companies. The Energy Connection is run by TIPRO (Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners), and we are the largest statewide oil and gas association; representing independent oil and gas producers (no majors - defined as those who do refining). As you might guess, deregulation is a "very" hot issue among our members, and I will promote this group to those folks in our community that follow this issue; especially as something is very likely to happen in the Texas legislature this year on this issue. Briefly, I have a BS in International Business from Auburn University, and an MBA in Finance/Entrepreneurship from Rice University. My working career has been in software/hightech start-ups before my current position; and I'm starting my third year here. My only exposure to the trading end of things was as an Intern for Barclays' in their trading department in Johannesburg, RSA, so it will be interesting for me to hear the comments of those closer to the markets. |
| Merrill, Greg | I'm a speculator. Natural Gas is one market I have been able to get some feel for how it works. In my battles with NG I have come out bruised at times, but at a profit. I am also a small money manager for people (equities and bonds for the most part) and view the commodities speculation as 'research & development' for my clients. Only a few of them actually know I trade commodities. (Hopefully) some day I will be able to offer my services in the commodities markets to my clients as well to help diversify their portfolios. Although one positive impact already is my deeper understanding of the commodities markets and how it impacts the equities side. . . |
| Myers, Jeff | I work for Allegheny Power as a financial analyst. My formal educational background is in engineering as I graduated from Grove City College with a Bachelor's of Science in Mechanical Engineering. Before moving into corporate finance, I spent three years at three different power stations in West Virginia working as a Plant Engineer within the Allegheny Power System. Within the last year, I moved to Hagerstown, MD and am involved with establishing a corporate-wide risk management program. Although most of the questions posed by the group relate to Natural Gas, I might be able to contribute some worthwhile discussions on how Allegheny and other electric utilities are approaching risk management in the upcoming deregulated electric markets. Does anyone know where I can find a list of top power marketers by sales for 1996? |
| Pavasars, Karl | I hail from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. My preoccupation for the time being remains as a paper speculator in Henry Hub natural gas, with Alberta natural gas, heating oil and electricity contracts attracting my attention as well. I am a professional meteorologist by first training, but am employed as an energy economist/forecaster with a large provincial electric utility. Principally, I forecast near-term energy demand....but more recently, speculative price direction. To nobodies surprise long range weather forecasts and seasonal forecasts have been strong bull and bear fundamentals on the energy markets over the last 6 months. Will weather continue to be big news as summer heat develops and will next winter be a bull or a bear? I'm particularly interested in weather trading strategies, both speculative and hedge, and how and if weather forecasts are perceived as effective tools to market players. With deregulation of both gas and electricity proceeding, I anticipate a personal and business need for creating hedging techniques, especially for the electrons. There are likely good lessons to be learned from the gas market. I hope I can contribute to the group with commentary/feedback on weather forecasts and also brush up on emerging hedge and spec strategies. |
| Price, Dennis | I have recently left Ohio Edison after 23 years and joined AI WARE. AI WARE is a computer software company that develops artificial intelligence solution packages. I had been using their product at Ohio Edison and was fascinated with the things that could be found from data. I was not able to concentrate on the application of AI as I would have liked, so I left Ohio Edison to join AI WARE. I would be interested in discussing applications with anyone in this discussion group. I would be more than glad to do some preliminary analysis of some data for anyone as long as we can discuss the content of the data. I would keep the data confidential. |
| Roe, Charlie | I work for the Northwest Public Power Association. We are a non-profit association that provides certain types of logistical support to 160 member systems in 10 Western States, 2 Provinces and 2 Territories. Our members are not-for-profit utilities (municipals, public utility districts, cooperatives, mutuals, etc.) primarily in the electric arena. My role is to provide education and training in the areas of rates, economics, power acquisition, accounting and information systems. You can find out more about us on our home page. Prior to starting this job a little over a year ago, I worked for a training and consulting firm in Florida working primarily with utilities across the U.S.. Prior to that I spent almost 30 years with a small utility in central California (PG&E) as a Jack of all Trades and master of none.... I'm interested in seeing how deregulation and competition of the electric utility industry takes place across the country. In particular, I would like to hear about Federal, State and local rules, regulations, tariffs, ordinances etc. that you have found to be either a help in the competitive environment or those that you perceive as barriers. One of our functions is in legislative advocacy -- this process is just getting started out here (California is an exception --- always!!!) and we would like to find win/win/win (supplier, utility, consumer) solutions to some of the questions that come up. |
| Rubin, Scott | I am an attorney and consultant, with a practice limited to public utility matters. I haven't done any natural gas work for years, but I do a lot of work on electric issues (also water and telecom, but we'll leave that for another place). I spent over 10 years with the Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate; I've been on my own for about the last 3 years. My legal work has been in Pennsylvania and New York (the states where I'm licensed to practice law); consulting work has taken me to about 10 other states. Most of my work on electric cases is related to policy issues (restructuring, utilities getting into unregulated businesses, planning, etc.) and environmental compliance -- particularly the Clean Air Act. Just so my biases are out there from the beginning, most of my consulting work is for consumer advocates (state government offices charged with representing the consumer interest in utility cases). Most of my electric consulting work has been in Maine and Ohio. At present, I am representing the IBEW (electric utility workers) in restructuring cases in Pennsylvania, and I have done a substantial amount of work for a municipal electric system in Pennsylvania. I am always hoping to learn more about what's going on out there, and to contribute what I know when it can be helpful to others. I maintain the Public Utility Home Page as a public service and resource to those interested in the utility industry. I always welcome suggestions, comments, etc. to help make the page better. I'm from that "old school" of Internet users who believes that the purpose of the 'net' is to enable people to freely share information; not to make a profit. You'll see that the page is very simple to make it useful and easy to use. [Yes, I can do fancy graphics, but they just slow things down. :-)] I also don't keep track of "hits" or advertise my services or link to commercial sites that don't have substantial content available (utility company pages are not listed, except in telecom). In my opinion, the natural gas page is my weakest because I don't do any work in that area, so any suggestions you have in that regard would be most welcome. I hope that this list provides a useful way to exchange information about the energy industries, both where they are and where they're going. |
| Sage, Mark | I'm a business analyst for SWEB Gas, a gas subsidiary of a UK regional electricity now owned by Southern Co. based in Atlanta - USA. We supply natural gas to a number of Industrial & commercial and domestic sites all over the UK. I'm interested in the development of IT / business systems to provide the best customer service. The whole of the Gas industry interests me so any info will be great. Web site is currently under construction!! |
| Salmon, David | I do business as Weather Derivatives. I have been helping folks make sense (money) out of the weather for more than 20 years--18.5 of those with a major financial/commodity news service. I produce early morning forecasts of heating and cooling needs across the U.S. for the coming 7 days, by objective calculations of temperatures, wind, sunshine and relative humidity, and present those forecast in the form of number. I make daily numerical forecasts for the 6- to 10-day period. Weather Derivatives also makes objective calculations of the numerous weather elements affecting price discovery in the agricultural commodities. |
| Sasaki, Ray | I am the Director of Risk Management for Cook Inlet Energy Supply, a Natural Gas/Power Marketing Company. My responsibilities include managing the trading activity of our physical gas as well as making markets in basis, EFP's, swaps, OTC options, and other derivative and 'structured' products. Cook Inlet delivers approximately 1 bcf of natural gas daily throughout the West, Gulf, Northeast, Rockies, and Canadian Regions. You can find more information regarding price related issues for various physical markets at our website (updated daily). I look forward to being actively involved with the NatGas and Power Group, where I can exchange facts and opinions with others who are involved within the industry. |
| Serrato, Marcela | I work at the Embassy of Mexico in Washington D.C. as Representative of the Ministry of Energy of Mexico. One of my areas of work is the promotion of business opportunities in the energy sector in my country, particularly in natural gas. This is an area that has very recently been opened to private investment. So a lot is happening and I'll be glad to inform anyone in this group who might be interested. Muchas gracias y saludos a todos! |
| Sh, Joel | I've worked as an energy derivatives trader and analyst for the last five years. I currently work for a NYC area commodity trading advisor. I started trading natural gas futures several years ago because no one at my firm wanted to touch them. I also trade the COB electricity contract and crude oil and oil products derivatives. I've compiled a large database of price and fundamental data on energy commodities. I'm willing to exchange some of the data with other traders. Email me for a list of the data series I have. I'm looking for historical implied volatility data for the natural gas options before 1995. I'd also like to discuss trading strategies with other people, especially anyone with spot market experience. |
| Tschamler, Taff | I have been in the energy consulting business since 1995. I started my career as a DOE contractor working on DOE's energy forecasts. I now work for XENERGY in Burlington, MA as an analyst. My responsibilities so far have included research and analysis of retail pilot programs, energy efficiency programs (dsm), electric restructuring and market transformation. Although I have had limited exposure to the natural gas markets, I hope to learn more from this group as the industries "converge." |
| Urner, Mike | I am a broker with a major Wall Street wire house. My primary focus is institutional portfolio and risk management across various capital markets, energy being one of them. I am a graduate of Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio with a degree in Finance/Economics. I spent several years with Merrill Lynch in the institutional money management arena, including an energy risk management and trading group. Although I have knowledge of the energy trading arena, I am very anxious to learn from other's experiences in their respective industries. These are exciting times in the power markets, and I feel that if we can feed off of each others knowledge, it can benefit us all a great deal. Please let me know what I can do to make the group discussions run more smoothly. |
| Valverde, Carlos | I work for Cementos de Chihuahua, a cement group in Chihuahua State, in the north of Mexico. We have plants in Chihuahua and Juarez cities. Our consumption of natural gas is approximately 13,000 mcf per day. We are interested in prices and contracts for natural gas markets, because, with the opening of the national markets, we want to look for the opportunities with new suppliers. The company has some projects about energy supply for the facilities, and I am interested in natural gas prices for the short and long term. Our reference in prices is actually Permian Basin. |
| Williams, Jim | I am an economist with West Texas Research Group a small Midland, Texas based consulting firm. For the past six months I've been living and working in London, Arkansas. The Internet makes it all possible. I do modeling of energy and related markets. One of my most recent projects was to determine local market prices for oil at the wellhead in various Texas counties. I also maintain a web page of energy data, analysis, and forecast information for the Energy Connection. This page is updated frequently. If any of you are aware of site which would be of interest to the energy community, I would appreciate knowing about it. One of my primary interests is in sources of energy and other economic data. |
| Williams, Steven J. | I am a Computer Consultant and trade Natural Gas (and other energy commodities) as a speculator. I got my start with trading energies by participating in a seminar taught by Cynthia Kase & sponsored by the Natural Gas Transmission Assn. My clients over the past several years have been some of the larger energy companies in Texas. I have been involved with software development in projects for trading systems, risk management systems, storage injection/withdrawal optimization, and so on. I believe I can participate in mutually beneficial discussions within this forum. |
| Wright, Richard A. | I work in the Corporate Audit Department of Oklahoma Gas & Electric Company, a subsidiary of OGE Energy Corp. My industry experience includes all of my seven months of employment here. Previously I worked at a large, local public accounting firm here in OKC. Our sister company, Enogex Inc., is a non-regulated natural gas pipeline company with related operations in natural gas processing, marketing and oil and gas development and production. From an auditor's perspective, my interests with Enogex (and, therefore, this discussion group) include the management of risks associated with natural gas futures and interest rate hedging practices. In addition, with deregulation of the electric utility industry on the horizon, full-fledged, unregulated marketing of electricity will be a new risk management concern that must be addressed. With less than one year of experience in the industry, my potential contributions to this discussion group may be limited. In the meantime, while my learning curve flattens out, I will consider myself a sponge and soak up whatever information this forum may provide. |
