Driven

Prices were up across the board Thursday in what traders agreed was a purely Nymex-driven cash market. In the absence of any substantive fundamental demand, physical numbers derived virtually all of their support from Wednesday’s 41-cent screen spike, they said.

The underlying fundamentals for natural gas prices — minus any weather-driven problems — remain extremely bullish, and sentiment in the gas market will improve over the coming months, according to a new report by Raymond James. Its current 2005 gas price forecast is $6.80/Mcf, with 2006 and long-term gas forecasts at $7.50/Mcf.

The underlying fundamentals for natural gas prices — minus any weather-driven problems — remain extremely bullish, and sentiment in the gas market will improve over the coming months, according to a new report by Raymond James. Its current 2005 gas price forecast is $6.80/Mcf, with 2006 and long-term gas forecasts at $7.50/Mcf.

Energy Security Analysis Inc. (ESAI) is projecting a $38 billion investment in wind generation in the U.S. over the next 10 years, which will be driven by renewable portfolio standards (RPS) that have passed into law in 19 states. The standards require utilities to purchase a designated percentage of their energy from renewable energy resources.

Exploration and production (E&P) companies’ earnings and cash flow this year are expected to be at or above record levels, up 10-15%, driven by commodity price and refining margin strength, said CreditSights analysts in a new report. And investors’ recognition of price sustainability will lead to another banner year for investors, according to Raymond James’ analysts.

Exploration and production (E&P) companies’ earnings and cash flow this year are expected to be at or above record levels, up 10-15%, driven by commodity price and refining margin strength, said CreditSights analysts in a new report. Along with strong year-over-year earnings growth, the analysts believe current price estimates are too low, which would leave “ample” room to revise earnings upward in the next few months.

Traders braced for what promised to be extra-cold weather developing in most of the East over the weekend by sending prices higher at all points Friday. As often happens, Northeast citygates led all advances, which ranged from a dime to more than $1.30. The smallest increases were concentrated in the West, where relatively moderate conditions will prevail in most of the region outside the Pacific Northwest until about midweek.

Driven by continued strong contributions from both its natural gas and electricity businesses, KeySpan Corp. predicted last week that 2005 earnings will range between $2.30-2.40/share, an increase, excluding special items, of 4-5% over this year’s projected core earnings.

Driven by continued strong contributions from both its natural gas and electricity businesses, KeySpan Corp. predicted Monday that 2005 earnings will range between $2.30-2.40/share, an increase, excluding special items, of 4-5% over this year’s projected core earnings.