Appeared

Following Tuesday’s drop of 15.3 cents in December natural gas futures and Thursday’s firmness despite a bearish 78 Bcf storage injection report, traders appeared content to finish the week on a quiet note. On Friday the front-month contract traded between a morning high of $3.847 and an afternoon low of $3.769 before calling the whole thing off and closing at $3.783, up five-tenths of a penny from Thursday’s regular session close. December’s close was 14 cents lower than the previous week’s finish.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has granted Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. permission to discontinue potable water deliveries to several Dimock Township residents by Nov. 30.

This week’s rally in the cash market appeared ready to pack up its tents and move on as nearly all increases outside the West diminished to about a nickel or less Wednesday. Traders apparently were coming to grips with the realities of relatively little weather-based or industrial load, further fading of storage injection opportunities except in the West, and the continuing lack of tropical storm threats to Gulf of Mexico production expected to last through the rest of the 2011 season.

Prices fell further at a large majority of locations Friday as it appeared that a tropical storm heading toward Texas would spare most offshore production and heat forecasts weren’t strong enough to avert market softness. Even the lack of a weekend industrial load loss in Friday’s trading was unable to support pricing.

“Summer doldrums” appeared to be an apt description of Thursday’s cash market as few points budged much from their previous-day positions and weather patterns weren’t showing a great deal of change either. A large majority of points were flat to slightly softer despite forecasts of hot temperatures continuing into next week for most of the eastern two-thirds of the U.S.

This week’s price run-up appeared to be faltering Wednesday as increases got much smaller and a bit more softness crept into the market. There was still plenty of heat to go around for Thursday, but the modest psychological boost of a tropical storm off the Mexican coast apparently was wearing off quickly and some anticipation of the weak-demand holiday weekend may have had quite a few traders backing off purchases in preparation for avoiding positive imbalance penalties.

Former Quebec Premier Lucien Bouchard, who now serves as president of the Quebec Oil and Gas Association (QOGA), appeared before a Quebec National Assembly committee to urge compensation for companies in limbo from the province’s environmental study of shale gas, but the meeting became heated after a legislator called Bouchard “unfaithful” to Quebec’s citizens.

BP plc’s executive team appeared to be steeled and ready to answer an onslaught of aggrieved shareholders Thursday at the first annual general meeting since the Deepwater Horizon tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) claimed the lives of 11 men and shattered the company’s reputation.

BP plc’s executive team appeared to be steeled and ready to answer an onslaught of aggrieved shareholders Thursday at the first annual general meeting since the Deepwater Horizon tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) claimed the lives of 11 men and destroyed the company’s reputation.