Await

Resigned to the fact that crude was hogging the spotlight Wednesday, September natural gas futures puttered around within an 11-cent range ahead of their expiration Friday.

An early assessment from western energy observers adds up to a long list of issues for California’s Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger once the election is officially certified and an official transition date is set. Some of them may test the new governor’s professed preference for market-based and environmentally sensitive solutions.

After spending most of the session near Monday’s $4.94 high, the November natural gas futures contract sold off late in the session Tuesday as weak longs took profits ahead of the Thursday release of potentially bearish storage data.

After probing perilously close to a technical cliff at the $4.55 level Tuesday, the natural gas futures market worked its way quietly higher Wednesday as traders appeared reluctant to be short heading into another potentially bullish storage report Thursday. By virtue its higher-high, higher-low, 5.5-cent gain and $4.694 close, the October contract was able to post a positive day on the charts, potentially paving the way for more upward consolidation following the 10:30 a.m. ET inventory release.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BHI) has $15 billion burning a hole in its pocket to invest in the energy industry and there is $100 billion of other investors’ money “waiting on the sidelines” to see if Congress passes a broad energy bill this year that repeals the Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA), MidAmerican Energy’s David Sokol told a natural gas strategy conference in Denver last week.

Berkshire-Hathaway has $15 billion burning a hole in its pocket to invest in the energy industry and there is $100 billion of other investors’ money “waiting on the sidelines” to see if Congress passes a broad energy bill this year, which includes repeal of the Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA), MidAmerican’s David Sokol told a natural gas strategy conference in Denver this week.

After ratcheting tentatively higher through the morning hours, natural gas futures sifted lower Friday afternoon as information on the extent of damage to production assets in the Gulf of Mexico was slow in coming. With that November came to rest at $3.739 Friday, up 1.5 cents for the session but down 30.2 cents in its first full week as prompt contract at the New York Mercantile Exchange. At just 77,372, estimated volume was evidence of the market’s uncertainty.

Development of federal leases in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana will have to await a revised plan to mitigate the impact of brine brought to the surface in coalbed methane drilling on rivers in the area, according to a review published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week.

The North Baja natural gas transmission pipeline from the Arizona-California border and along the northern edge of Baja California, Mexico is now fully subscribed for its 500 MMcf/d capacity over the next 25 years, creating an “energy annuity” for Sempra Energy and its partners in the project, Sempra’s CEO Steve Baum told a group of financial analysts at the company’s day-long meeting last Thursday in San Diego.