Chills

Continuing to test its upper price limits due to the fact that cold has finally come to the East, January natural gas futures climbed higher Tuesday, settling near the day’s high.

Although the recent climb in Lower 48 natural gas prices is currently being interpreted as “unusual,” Lehman Brothers chemical analyst Sergey Vasnetsov said expensive U.S. natural gas could become “normal” in 2003-06. In Lehman Brothers’ first “Natural Gas Fever” report, Vasnetsov said a major “step-up” in the future average natural gas price could have profound implications on the U.S. chemical industry.

Although the recent climb in Lower 48 natural gas prices is currently being interpreted as “unusual,” Lehman Brothers chemical analyst Sergey Vasnetsov said expensive U.S. natural gas could become “normal” in 2003-06. In Lehman Brothers’ first “Natural Gas Fever” report, Vasnetsov said a major “step-up” in the future average natural gas price could have profound implications on the U.S. chemical industry.

Following the wide variety of temperatures seen across the nation during the Thanksgiving weekend, Salomon Smith Barney Meteorologist Jon Davis said the temperature pattern during the rest of November and the first few days of December is expected to be “normal,” which he allowed is something that much of the U.S. has not experienced this month.