Conditions

San Francisco-based Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) was sentenced by a federal court judge Thursday to five years probation for each of the six criminal counts of which it was found guilty last year.

August natural gas is seen opening 3 cents higher Friday morning as traders mull options strategies to cope with a rangebound market. Overnight oil markets rose.

April natural gas is expected to open 5 cents higher Friday morning at $1.84 as analysts see oversold market conditions continuing to unwind along with expected cooler conditions next week. Overnight oil markets rose.

Basic Energy Services Inc.’s well servicing rig hours and drilling rig days continued to slide in December and fall sharply from a year ago during an exceptionally slow holiday period, CEO Roe Patterson said Tuesday.

February natural gas is expected to open 3 cents lower Monday morning at $2.43 as overnight weather models hint at mild conditions in the longer term and the technical case for continued higher prices weakens. Overnight oil markets were mixed.

United States Steel Corp. is postponing construction of an electric arc furnace (EAF) at its Fairfield Works in Birmingham, AL, “due to continued challenging market conditions in both the oil and gas and steel industries,” the company said. “On Dec. 14, 2015 oil prices hit an eight-year low in the same week that rig counts dropped by another 28 to a 16-year low of 709. The company continues to feel the effect of these energy market conditions, along with low steel prices and continued high levels of imports. In order to combat these continued challenging global market conditions, U.S. Steel has made the decision to postpone the construction of the 1.6 million net ton EAF facility at Fairfield Works…”

More than 21 million acres offshore Texas, all available unleased areas in the Western Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Planning Area, are to be offered in a federal oil and natural gas lease sale in August.

September natural gas is expected to open 3 cents higher Tuesday morning at $4.00 as traders focus on a gradual lessening of the aggressive storage builds of the last several weeks. Overnight oil markets retreated.

Colorado firefighters Monday afternoon continued to battle a wildfire in the far northwest corner of the state, seeking to keep surrounding ranches and oil and natural production wells out of harm’s way. No cause for the fire has been determined, and industry sources had no information on possible impact on oil/gas operations in the area.