Downward

Growing gas production from the Appalachian Basin’s Marcellus Shale will disrupt regional gas flow patterns and force Northeast gas prices downward, Bentek Energy LLC said in a new Market Alert. The firm predicted that Appalachian Basin production will range 4-6 Bcf/d by 2014.

Anticipating another annual gas cost adjustment downward, Intermountain Gas Co. has asked the Idaho Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to drop its retail rates 22.2% for residential customers and 21.6% for commercial customers, effective Oct. 1. The PUC said it will take comments on the proposed net rate decrease through Sept. 9.

Significant downward pressure is expected to continue on the Henry Hub natural gas spot price as storage levels head toward a record high, more foreign supplies potentially make their way to U.S. markets and domestic production stays relatively flat despite a pullback in drilling, according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Short-Term Energy Outlook for August.

After taking a one-day respite from lower prices on Thursday, August natural gas futures values moved downward again with August crude on Friday as near-term fundamentals remained weak. August natural gas closed at $3.373, down 3.5 cents from Thursday’s close and 24 cents lower than the previous week’s finish.

Natural gas prices, production and demand are expected to continue on a downward spiral through the rest of the year and possibly pick up in 2010 if the economy recovers, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its Short-Term Energy and Summer Fuels Outlook last Tuesday.

Natural gas prices, production and demand are expected to continue on a downward spiral through the rest of the year and possibly pick up in 2010 if the economy recovers, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its Short-Term Energy and Summer Fuels Outlook Tuesday.

Natural gas futures continued to probe lower values on Tuesday, but market experts wonder whether the downward move that began last summer might actually be coming to an end. For its part, the April contract put in a low of $3.761 before closing Tuesday’s regular session at $3.812, down 3.8 cents from Monday’s finish.

A surprise 16 Bcf natural gas storage injection from the Producing region for the week ended Feb. 13 was putting significant downward pressure Thursday morning on psychological futures support at the $4 level. Shrugging off an almost $5/bbl gain in crude futures, March natural gas futures ended up closing out the day’s regular session at $4.078, down 13.6 cents from Wednesday’s close.

The slumping economy and healthy levels of natural gas in storage continued to put downward pressure on the commodity’s price on Thursday as the February contract put in a new low for the downtrend before closing out the regular session at $4.681, down 9.9 cents from Wednesday’s close.