Gas futures Tuesday

retreat from near $5:  NYMEX July natural gas futures closed down on profit-taking Tuesday, erasing a chunk of the four day surge that pushed gas to near $5/MMBTU, analyst Jackson Mueller reported.  The contract lost 10.8¢ to close at $4.808/MMBTU.  The market remains well supplied with weak demand and a look at the current picture encouraged profit taking while longer-range expectations of higher demand from power generation and industrial sources limited the retreat.

Public Service of NH

to buy wood power:  Public Service of New Hampshire reached a deal with Laidlaw Berlin BioPower to buy the energy from a proposed wood-fired power generation facility (RT, 2008-Jan-14).  The agreement between the two firms is for 20 years and still needs to be approved by the PUC.  When operational, the 70 MW plant will be the largest wood-burning power plant in the state.  New Hampshire has a goal of reaching 25% renewable by 2025.

Duke picks president

for Indiana region:  Duke Energy named Michael Reed president of its Indiana service region.  Reed will be responsible for the firm's Indiana regulatory work, governmental relations and economic development and community affairs.  Reed did a stint as executive director of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission from 2006-2009, where he managed the commission's power, water, sewer, natural gas, pipeline safety and consumer utility industry divisions.