Aided

Maintaining the downward momentum from last Friday, the December natural gas futures contract — aided by some rare weakness in the petroleum ring — continued to scout lower price levels on Monday, recording a low of $7.980 before closing out at $7.999, down 41.9 cents from Friday.

After climbing in morning trade, August natural gas futures bulls were aided in their quest ever so slightly Thursday as the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that a pedestrian 65 Bcf was injected into underground storage for the week ended July 13. As a result, the August contract worked higher to close out at $6.706, up 17.8 cents from Wednesday’s regular session finish.

Taking the reins of prompt month in their first regular session Monday, March natural gas futures — aided by a chilly outlook from the National Weather Service and supportive trading in crude — jumped 88.2 cents higher on the day to close at $9.389.

In a somewhat surprising move attributable chiefly to the screen’s Thursday afternoon turnaround into positive territory (and aided by some colder weekend weather in parts of the Midwest, Northeast and South), cash prices saw hefty increases at all points Friday.

With the five-day-old bearish storage report still fresh in traders’ minds, March natural gas futures on Monday — aided by weak petroleum futures activity — continued to explore lower in search of support, seesawing on the psychological $6 level on numerous occasions during the session before finally settling below it.

Bouncing back a little from last week’s declines, January natural gas futures followed crude higher Monday, hitting a high of $6.94 before settling at $6.923, up 12.7 cents on the session.

Bouncing back a little from last week’s declines, January natural gas futures followed crude higher Monday, hitting a high of $6.94 before settling at $6.923, up 12.7 cents on the session.

Aided by the combination of higher average oil and natural gas sales prices, higher sales volumes and lower oil and gas production expenses, Forest Oil Corp. posted 2003 net earnings from continuing operations of $90.2 million or $1.82 per basic share and net earnings of $88.4 million or $1.79 per basic share, an increase of over 300% compared to net earnings of $21.3 million or $0.45 per share in 2002.

Aided by the combination of higher average oil and natural gas sales prices, higher sales volumes and lower oil and gas production expenses, Forest Oil Corp. posted 2003 net earnings from continuing operations of $90.2 million or $1.82 per basic share and net earnings of $88.4 million or $1.79 per basic share, an increase of over 300% compared to net earnings of $21.3 million or $0.45 per share in 2002.