Bears

With natural gas storage at the end of the winter heating season considerably lower than expected, the natural gas bears at Raymond James & Associates Inc. have switched sides and are again running with the bulls through 2008. Two other energy analysts also raised their gas price forecasts through the rest of the year.

With natural gas storage at the end of the winter heating season considerably lower than expected, the natural gas bears at Raymond James & Associates Inc. have switched sides and are again running with the bulls through 2008. Two other energy analysts also raised their gas price forecasts through the rest of the year.

Mixed price movement was repeated Wednesday, but this time the bulls were running instead of the bears. Some sizable heating load is starting to emerge as temperatures more seasonal for mid-October replace what had been a fairly mild (or sometimes hot) start to autumn so far. With a major outlet blockage being removed, Rockies prices responded with spikes a day after plunges to as low as 40 cents the day before.

October natural gas futures traded in a wide range on Tuesday as bears plumbed support lines before the contract rallied back in the afternoon. The prompt month traded between $6.195 and $6.570 before settling at $6.568, down 8.5 cents from Monday’s close.

With 10 weeks to go in the traditional storage injection season, the bears are picnicking at the expense of exploration and production (E&P) companies, feasting on the rise in domestic natural gas production, a large storage overhang, continued high operating costs and the current credit market woes.

The bears made it a clean sweep for the week on Friday as July natural gas futures dropped an additional 21.8 cents to finish at $7.130. The cumulative result of the five consecutive lower closes was a 78.8-cent drop from the previous Friday.

Natural gas futures put in another losing performance Tuesday, much to the delight of the bears, but the activity was on low volume and traders noted little aggressive selling.

Coming as a mixed bag for energy bulls and bears, Andover, MA-based WSI Corp. said it expects the March-May period to average warmer than normal temperatures in the northeastern and western U.S., with below-normal temperatures confined to the Plains and the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys.

Coming as a mixed bag for energy bulls and bears, Andover, MA-based WSI Corp. said it expects the March-May period to average warmer than normal temperatures in the northeastern and western U.S., with below-normal temperatures confined to the Plains and the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys.