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Until the bell rang on Friday, things appeared to be looking up for Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s management team. Its decision to sell a half million acres in the Denver-Julesburg (DJ) Basin, which previously hadn’t been on the company’s list of publicly disclosed assets to sell, had been praised, with analysts noting that it might fetch up to $1 billion and help the company reach its capital commitment goals this year.

Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp. has agreed to purchase approximately 50,000 net leasehold acres in the Bakken Shale play from an undisclosed private oil and gas company for $540 million in cash and $50 million in stock, and agreed to assume the terms of a drilling rig contract.

August natural gas futures drifted lower Monday as traders expect a rangebound market. At the closing bell August futures had fallen 1.3 cents to $4.386 and September had shed 1.5 cents to $4.355. September crude oil retreated 67 cents to $99.20/bbl.

October gas futures gapped 10 cents to the upside at the opening bell Tuesday, leading some to believe a solid bounce would continue higher off Monday’s significant $5.440 low, the lowest a front month has traded in nearly two years. However, the front-month contract reversed course in morning trading and ended Tuesday down 9.6 cents at $5.574, just above a daily low of $5.560.

After posting a higher high just after the opening bell at $7.100, the September gas futures contract lost significant ground Wednesday, dropping all the way to $6.590 by early afternoon before rebounding slightly toward the end of the session. September ended the day down 9.5 cents to $6.766/MMBtu.

After gapping lower at the opening bell, the natural gas futures market clawed its way slowly higher throughout the trading session on a combination of technical short-covering and bargain hunting. April finished at $7.067, down 22.3 cents for the session but up more than 13 cents from its early-session low of $6.93.

Without much new information to trigger a significant change, April natural gas futures gapped lower at the opening bell to $6.740 in response to the continuing heavy storage inventory situation, but then managed a slow climb throughout the day Tuesday to end up 3.3 cents at $6.868. April crude seemed to move almost in lockstep, initially dipping to $59.60 but then ending the day up 15 cents at $60.57/bbl.

Unsure of Emily’s direction on Wednesday, traders pushed August natural gas futures lower at the opening bell before allowing another run back into $8.00 territory in the afternoon. Ultimately the contract ended up settling at $7.900, up 1.5 cents from Tuesday’s close.

Shrugging off gains achieved in the nearby crude oil pit, the natural gas futures market set new lows for the week Friday as traders liquidated positions in concert with some negative technical factors and ahead of mild weather expected this week. At $6.442, the newly-anointed prompt month July was down 13.1 cents for the session, but still up 3.3 cents for the week.