Beset

Although the return of wintry weather to much of the Midwest, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic was not as severe as the blizzard-beset period in January and the first half of February, and was already due to start moderating as soon as Wednesday, it was enough to generate price gains almost across the board Tuesday.

Beset by yet another transportation setback — this one unplanned — several Rockies points saw lows of 1, 2 or 3 cents Monday while Cheyenne Hub averaged less than a nickel and CIG was only a couple of pennies higher. All Rockies numbers plunged anywhere from a little less than half a dollar to nearly a dollar. However, the rest of the cash market was flat or stronger based on rising temperatures in the Midwest, Friday’s quarter rise by October futures and the return of industrial load from weekend hiatus.

Beset on all sides by negative influences — weather, futures and storage — it was little wonder that prices continued to fall at most points Tuesday. Thanks to the popularity of year-end vacations between Christmas and New Year’s Day, trading activity was light.

Beset by safety problems and still recovering from last year’s Gulf of Mexico storms, BP plc reported in an interim update Wednesday that its 3Q2006 oil and natural gas production year-over-year will be flat and will fall sequentially from 2Q2006 to 3.8 million boe/d from 4.01 million boe/d. Houston-based Marathon Oil Corp., meanwhile, said its quarterly production is in line with forecasts.

Beset by safety problems and still recovering from last year’s Gulf of Mexico storms, BP plc reported in an interim update Wednesday that its 3Q2006 oil and natural gas production year-over-year will be flat and will fall sequentially from 2Q2006 to 3.8 million boe/d from 4.01 million boe/d.

Beset by negative influences from several directions, prices plummeted across the board Friday with drops approaching or exceeding a dollar in many instances. But hold the phone on those predictions earlier this week that there was almost no chance of a cash market rally between now and the end of the month. One appeared to be shaping up for Monday’s trading.

Beset by negative influences from several directions, prices plummeted across the board Friday with drops approaching or exceeding a dollar in many instances. But hold the phone on those predictions earlier this week that there was almost no chance of a cash market rally between now and the end of the month. One appeared to be shaping up for Monday’s trading.

What some had expected to be moderate softness Friday turned into a general rout. Beset by generally light cooling load outside the southernmost U.S., recent screen weakness, a California OFO and the industrial load loss associated with a weekend, price drops ranged from a quarter to around half a dollar. The West took most of the heaviest losses.

The last couple of weeks have seen a number of mishaps involvingnatural gas lines, one of them resulting in fatalities.