Actually

Wednesday’s futures increase of nearly a quarter, extending a rally into its fourth day, was the main ingredient in the recipe for rising prices at almost all points Thursday, but a dash of heating load in parts of the northern market areas along with a pinch of remaining cooling load from the western end of the South though the desert Southwest also were part of the mix.

Despite the possibility that the first Atlantic tropical storm of the season could be identified over the weekend, natural gas futures on Friday actually settled lower. After trading in positive territory for a vast majority of the day, July natural gas futures slumped lower late Friday to close at $6.172, down 1.9 cents on the day and 45.1 cents lower than the previous week’s close.

Just when it seemed that cash prices had nowhere to go but down for quite a while, the market achieved a rally Thursday — sort of. Actually it was only a partial rally, as quite a few instances of flat quotes were scattered among points that were mostly less than a dime up or down from flat.

Without actually issuing a Type 6 OFO, Southern Natural Gas said Friday that based on current receipts and projected deliveries, one was “too close to call” for long imbalances Saturday and Sunday. It noted that its tariff “provides that a Type 6 OFO can be implemented on four hours notice or less depending on the situation.”

The Bush administration has drawn new boundaries in the eastern Gulf of Mexico that give Louisiana authority over waters that are close to 100 miles from Florida’s shores, and includes portions of the gas-rich Lease Sale 181, according to a legislative aide for Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), a staunch opponent of oil and gas drilling off the Sunshine State’s coastline. But Interior Department and offshore industry officials say Nelson’s office is overreacting.

After pushing for an overhaul of the nation’s energy policy since 2001, President Bush could get his wish this year as the U.S. Congress may actually make good on his request to have an agreed-upon energy bill on his desk by Aug. 1 — or not.

Christmas might be coming early for President Bush this year as the U.S. Congress might actually make good on his request to have an agreed-upon energy bill on his desk by Aug. 1.

Summer officially began early Tuesday morning, and it’s highly unlikely that many people will be mistaking it for any other seasons. Actually it will be feeling more like typical midsummer heat throughout much of the U.S. Tuesday, and the big boost in power generation load, aided and abetted by residual screen strength from late last week, sent cash prices higher by double-digit amounts in most cases Monday.

Results from a 43-company survey have led analysts at Southwest Securities to believe domestic gas production may actually show a sequential increase for the second quarter compared to first quarter levels, but still will be down sharply compared to levels during the same quarter last year. In contrast, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicts that production ended the quarter flat sequentially and year-to-year.