Climbing

U.S. natural gas prices are set to rise beyond current market expectations, climbing by about 50% between 2011 and 2020, or 4% per year, to surpass $8/MMBtu, according to a new report by the Deloitte Center for Energy Solutions.

U.S. natural gas production keeps climbing, and for that to continue burnertip action needs to step up, and it likely will, a Bentek Energy LLC executive told attendees at GasMart 2011 in Chicago last week.

U.S. natural gas production keeps climbing, and for that to continue burnertip action needs to step up, and it likely will, a Bentek Energy LLC executive told attendees at GasMart 2011 in Chicago on Wednesday.

After climbing nearly 35 cents on reduced trading volume Friday, traders added another dime to the February natural gas futures rally on Monday as winter storms and freezing temperatures were expected to engulf the eastern United States later in the week. The front-month contract ventured back above $6 to close at $6.072, a gain of 10.1 cents.

Thanks to a second straight day of futures strength Wednesday, cash prices were able to continue climbing at a majority of points Thursday. However, quotes tanked by triple-digit amounts in the Midcontinent and Rockies. Sources cited a common cause for the great price weakness in both regions: essentially no local weather-based demand at all.

The Texas exploration and production (E&P) economy hit a record high in 2007, with the rig count climbing more than 10% from 2006, according to data compiled in the Texas Petro Index.

The Texas exploration and production (E&P) economy hit a record high in 2007, with the rig count climbing more than 10% from 2006, according to data compiled in the Texas Petro Index.

It was not surprising when prices resumed climbing at nearly all points Friday following a partial interruption Thursday of last week’s overall cash market strength (see Daily GPI, Jan. 11). After all, cold fronts were moving into the South and Northeast Friday, and a new siege of frigid weather close to rivaling the one following New Year’s Day would be under way in most of the U.S. and Canada by the end of the weekend.

After climbing in morning trade, August natural gas futures bulls were aided in their quest ever so slightly Thursday as the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that a pedestrian 65 Bcf was injected into underground storage for the week ended July 13. As a result, the August contract worked higher to close out at $6.706, up 17.8 cents from Wednesday’s regular session finish.