Boosted

Boosted by another bullish weather forecast from Salomon Smith Barney meteorologists, natural gas futures spiked to new two-year highs Wednesday as fund and local buying converged at Nymex. The March contract received the biggest buying boost as it topped out at $6.20 before being deposited lower by light afternoon profit taking. It settled at $6.134, up 22.3 cents for the day.

Piedmont Natural Gas boosted its customer service base in North Carolina, by agreeing to a two-part deal on Thursday that includes the stock purchase of North Carolina Natural Gas (NCNG), a distribution subsidiary of Progress Energy, and Progress Energy’s investment in EasternNC, a gas delivery service, for approximately $425 million in cash. The acquisition includes the 176,000 NCNG residential, commercial and industrial natural gas customers in eastern and southern North Carolina, giving Piedmont more than 454,000 customers in the state, and a total of 901,000 customers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Range Resources boosted its hedging position to take advantage of recent commodity price increases, locking in prices for two-thirds of its oil and gas production next year. All of the Company’s hedges are straight swaps entered into primarily with major financial institutions.

Boosted by the reformation of Tropical Storm Lili in the Caribbean, natural gas futures shot higher Friday as traders continued to cover shorts ahead of the weekend. Notching a 15.2-cent gain to close at $4.041, November becomes the first prompt natural gas contract to trade above $4.00 since June 2001 when the July contract was leading the market off its $10.10 high.

Despite record natural gas drilling begun in 2000 and boosted through mid-year, U.S. production may actually show a year-over-year decline by the time fourth quarter reports are released, according to energy analysts following quarterly reports by exploration and production (E&P) companies. However, in Canada, September natural gas production is up and will be up at the end of the year, putting more pressure on prices and E&P values both in the Lower 48 and Canada as pipeline capacity fills up.

Despite record natural gas drilling begun in 2000 and boosted through mid-year, U.S. production may actually show a year-over-year decline by the time fourth quarter reports are released, according to energy analysts following quarterly reports by exploration and production (E&P) companies. However, in Canada, September natural gas production is up and will be up at the end of the year, putting more pressure on prices and E&P values both in the Lower 48 and Canada as pipeline capacity fills up.

Boosted by scaled-down buying support, the natural gas futures market rebounded from lows notched Monday morning. However, that buying was muted by a continued negative technical and fundamental outlook, and as a result the market finished in negative territory for the day. The November contract experienced the largest trading range Monday, as the prompt month rebounded to a $2.41 high after dipping down to $2.33 earlier in the session. It closed with a 5.2-cent loss to $2.378. By comparison, the rest of the winter strip was hit harder, led by December, which tumbled 6.5 cents to $2.66.

Nearly all of the U.S. independents posted remarkable earnings in second quarter earnings announcements last week, boosted by high commodity prices and increased production — especially in the natural gas sector. Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Apache Corp., both headquartered in Houston, got a boost in production and earnings from strategic acquisitions, while Barrett Resources Corp., XTO Corp. and Mitchell Energy & Development Corp. relied on their own U.S.-based production reserves.

Boosted by higher cash market prices, natural gas futures gappedhigher at the open Monday as traders continued to make up groundlost in the precipitous decline early last week. However, insimilar fashion to last week, January futures ran into heavyoverhead selling, pressuring the market lower for much of thesession. The prompt month finished at $8.527, up 13.1 cents on theday, but off 67.3 cents from its $9.20 opening trade.