Digit

Despite a third straight triple-digit weekly storage injection (114 Bcf), natural gas futures surged Thursday in three distinct waves of short-covering and speculative buying. When the dust had settled and the orders counted at Nymex, the numbers were impressive: July natural gas futures rose 36 cents to close at $5.941, just off its new one-week high of $5.95. In contrast to the first three trading days of this week, volume at Nymex was heavy Thursday, with an estimated 92,607 contracts changing hands.

Magnum Hunter Resources Inc. saw its production up 30% while Chesapeake Energy gained 35% on the production side for the first quarter, with both of the gas-heavy independents growing reserves despite some industry forecasts to the contrary.

Triple-digit plunges in the Rockies and San Juan Basin were greatly conspicuous among general flatness elsewhere in Wednesday’s trading. Only rarely did non-Rockies/San Juan points stray more than a few pennies up or down from unchanged as most of the nation was expected to continue seeing a mix of belated winter and springlike weather through at least Tuesday.

Except for triple-digit advances for Dominion and Northeast citygates, the major volatility of recent days continued to subside Wednesday. It was also a second straight day of mixed price movement. Most of the East shared the Northeast-Dominion firmness but with much smaller increases; however, Chicago citygates and NGPL-Midcontinent saw drops of up to about 70 cents after a winter storm had moved eastward out of the Midwest market area.

For utilities and end-users still shell-shocked from the sky-high spikes of Monday and Tuesday, it may have seemed like re-entering a nightmare they thought they had already awakened from. Dollar-plus price gains — often plus much more than a dollar — were back in vogue Friday, as traders shrugged off the normal demand slump that accompanies a weekend and focused instead on a screen advance of more than 60 cents and prospects that this week largely will repeat the cold-weather pattern of the previous one.

Paced by triple-digit advances at Midwest and Northeast citygates and on Dominion in Appalachia and several Midcontinent pipes, nearly the entire cash market put in a strong weekend price performance in Friday’s super-volatile trading. Flat San Juan Basin numbers missed out on the price party, and other western points tended to see most of the smaller gains of less than 30 cents.

Triple-digit price dives on Dominion and in the Northeast Wednesday were arrayed against an overall mixed market in which few points strayed more than a nickel up or down from flat.

Triple-digit losses at Northeast citygates were the most spectacular in a day of general price plunges. Most non-Northeast points fell by anywhere from about 20 cents to 60 cents or so. Only Rockies/San Juan quotes saw flat to small declines.

Triple-digit gains at most of the Northeast citygates led an overall cash market advance Friday, as forecasts indicated little let-up this week in the severe winter conditions occupying much of the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. and Canada.