Bentek

Abundant gas supplies make for a “bleak picture” for gas producers in the near term, Bentek Energy LLC CEO Porter Bennett said Tuesday. While prices will stay in a $3.50-5.50 range for a while, this will ultimately spur demand, particularly among power generators, he posited, and that will be the cure for low prices. But until then — two or three years from now — things will continue to be interesting.

Prices continued to spike in the Northeast Wednesday, with a few other regional citygates joining Transco Zone 6-New York in jumps of about a dollar or more and Texas Eastern M-3 skyrocketing by more than $2. However, this week’s bullishness showed signs of stalling, with Gulf Coast numbers generally only a few cents both up and down from flat and markets in the Midcontinent/Midwest and West mostly on the moderately softer side.

With Reuters, Bentek Energy and the five-year average all in agreement on an 89 Bcf natural gas storage injection for the week ended June 15, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) Thursday morning really had no other option but to comply. The 89 Bcf build announcement provided a small bounce in July futures, but ultimately the prompt month settled at $7.348, down 4.3 cents from Wednesday.