Associates

Energy analysts at Raymond James & Associates Inc. on Monday cut their natural gas price forecast through the rest of the year on the “reasonable chance” that U.S. gas prices could fall to $5/Mcf or lower over the next two months because of bloated storage levels.

Are natural gas prices going to drop to $6/Mcf at the Henry Hub or even lower? Maybe yes, maybe no, said the usually bullish Raymond James & Associates Inc. energy analysts, who last week cut their full-year 2007 gas forecast to $7.08 from $7.70.

Are natural gas prices going to drop to $6/Mcf at the Henry Hub or even lower? Maybe yes, maybe no, said the usually bullish Raymond James & Associates Inc. energy analysts, who Monday cut their full-year 2007 gas forecast to $7.08 from $7.70.

Extreme volatility in weather or an active hurricane season could alter their fundamentally bullish outlook, but Raymond James & Associates analysts said last week that tightening supply and demand fundamentals should yield a more bullish summer-ending storage scenario at around 3,100 Bcf, with higher sustainable prices through this year and into 2008.

Extreme volatility in weather or an active hurricane season could alter their fundamentally bullish outlook, but Raymond James & Associates analysts said Monday that tightening supply and demand fundamentals should yield a more bullish summer-ending storage scenario at around 3,100 Bcf, with higher sustainable prices through this year and into 2008.

Analysts at Raymond James & Associates Inc. admit to being “much more bullish than the Street on 2008 domestic natural gas prices.” And judging by what they said they heard at their recent institutional investors conference, producers are pretty bullish, too.

Analysts at Raymond James & Associates Inc. admit to being “much more bullish than the Street on 2008 domestic natural gas prices.” And judging by what they said they heard at their recent institutional investors conference, producers are pretty bullish, too.

What a difference a year makes. In early 2006, Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) featured a session at CERAWeek titled, “Is the Time Finally Right for Renewables?” This year, the buzz is not only about rising costs and profit margins, but about the number of sessions devoted to energy efficiency, climate change and biofuels.

Now that much of the country has finally seen weather that can be called winter-like, Raymond James & Associates Inc. analysts are predicting that the current year-over-year gas storage surplus of 354 Bcf will be completely wiped out over the next three weeks and storage will stand at about 1,500 Bcf by winter’s end. Further, they predicted that gas prices have seen their lows for the year.