Jeremiah Shelor

Rover Pipeline LLC has completed over half of the 49 horizontal directional drills (HDDs) needed for the 710-mile, 3.25 Bcf/d interstate natural gas pipeline, and soon expects FERC to reauthorize the remaining eight HDDs still held up by a moratorium issued in May, an Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP) spokeswoman said this week.

Natural gas futures gained for the third day in a row, continuing to gain momentum on a bullish outlook for December cold even as an early morning surge prompted some profit-taking.

January natural gas was set to open about 5.4 cents higher at around $3.071 Tuesday as the market looks ahead to potential cold developing in the long-range forecast.

Natural gas futures picked up steam Tuesday, climbing by double digits for the second straight day on forecasts for cold temperatures arriving after Dec. 7. Cash markets followed the futures higher, with the bears losing their grip after near-term warmth drove widespread losses the prior two trading days. The NGI National Spot Gas Average climbed 12 cents to $2.81.

December natural gas was set to open about a dime higher at around $2.92 Monday, with the market eyeing long-range cold after a large drop Friday to price in some above-normal temperatures in the shorter-term.

After an up-and-down weekend for natural gas futures, cold temperatures in the long-term forecast helped the December contract trade higher Monday as it gets set to come off the board. In the spot market, widespread above-normal temperatures had most regions trading in the red, and the NGI National Spot Gas Average fell 5 cents to $2.69/MMBtu.

A lack of consistent cold weather heading into the Thanksgiving holiday had spot prices trending downward for the second week in a row, and the NGI Weekly Spot Gas Average during the three-day trading week for Nov. 21-27 flow dropped 14 cents to $2.85/MMBtu.

December natural gas was set to open about 2 cents lower Wednesday at around $2.996 as more warming showed up overnight in the medium-range forecast.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a net 46 Bcf withdrawal from U.S. natural gas stocks for the week ended Nov. 17, a slightly smaller decline than what the market had been expecting.