Bottom

May natural gas futures rose as traders demonstrate internal market dynamics pointing to at least a market bottom if not higher prices. At the close Tuesday May futures were up 15.2 cents to $4.160 and June added 14.2 cents to $4.253. May crude oil slipped 29 cents to $84.05/bbl.

May natural gas futures rose as traders demonstrate internal market dynamics pointing to at least a market bottom if not higher prices. At the close Tuesday May futures were up 15.2 cents to $4.160 and June added 14.2 cents to $4.253. May crude oil slipped 29 cents to $84.05/bbl.

Northwest reminded customers that the operator of the Jackson Prairie storage facility on its system will be conducting an annual bottom-hole pressure test Monday through Friday of next week, during which no injections or withdrawals will be available. Northwest said it will begin accepting withdrawal nominations for the Oct. 6 gas day, and injection nominations “will be accepted as space becomes available in the facility. In order for Northwest to maintain its storage account balance, it is critical that customers do not draft the system on the days leading up to the test.” The pipeline asked that customers stay on rate during the outage as it “will have very limited operational flexibility due to the Jackson Prairie test and the anomaly work being performed between the Muddy Creek and Kemmerer compressor stations.”

With natural gas futures recording a small rebound Tuesday, traders were debating whether the market had seen a bottom on the charts or just another round of short-covering before testing even lower depths. As expiration loomed one day away, the September contract on Tuesday traded between $5.425 and $5.720 before closing at $5.593, up 21.3 cents from Monday.

Near-record oil prices sustained the bottom line for most of the majors in 2Q2007, but the profits didn’t translate into gains on the production side, with none of the majors showing natural gas production gains in North America.

Near-record oil prices sustained the bottom line for most of the majors in 2Q2007, but the profits didn’t translate into gains in North American natural gas production for Chevron Corp. or Royal Dutch Shell plc.

Predictions that Tuesday’s rally confirmed natural gas futures’ near-term bottom at $8.700 appeared to be premature as Wednesday’s trading session trolled even lower. February natural gas carved out a low of $8.505 before settling at $8.694, down 47.4 cents on the day.

El Paso Corp.’s exploration and production (E&P) business hit bottom in 2004, but with a complete restructuring, improved drilling results, two bolt-on acquisitions — and a third expected to close this month — the “offense is back on the field,” said CEO Doug Foshee on Thursday.

El Paso Corp.’s exploration and production (E&P) business hit bottom in 2004, but with a complete restructuring, improved drilling results, two bolt-on acquisitions — and a third expected to close this month — the “offense is back on the field,” said CEO Doug Foshee on Thursday.