Easily

The late winter storm that dumped snow Sunday night into Monday morning over much of the Eastern Seaboard was easily trumped by a fresh dose of bleak economic indicators, which helped to push April natural gas futures on Monday to close at $4.152, down 4.6 cents from Friday’s finish.

After easily breezing through the House, the multi-billion economic stimulus package was headed to the Senate floor this week where it could run into a Republican wall and fall shy of the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.

With physical sales of 30.3 Bcf/d in 2Q2008, BP plc easily surpassed all other companies in NGI’s latest survey of North America’s natural gas traders. However, the real news looking forward is just how many 2Q2008 marketers might be absent from the 3Q2008 version of the survey.

With physical sales of 30.3 Bcf/d in 2Q2008, BP plc easily surpassed all other companies in NGI’s latest survey of North America’s natural gas traders. However, the real news looking forward is just how many 2Q2008 marketers might be absent from the 3Q2008 version of the survey.

After repeated attempts over the last week to break below and stay below the $12.70 support area, November natural gas on Tuesday went in the opposite direction instead. Going against current fundamental indicators, the prompt month soared to a high of $14.375 before settling at $14.338, a level $1.334 higher than Monday’s settle. November natural gas expires Thursday.

At its annual general meeting last week, Royal Dutch/Shell Group shareholders easily approved all of the resolutions on the group’s ballot, but voting indicated that many would like some management practices to change.

Royal Dutch/Shell Group shareholders easily approved all of the resolutions on the group’s ballot on Monday, but the voting indicated some dissatisfaction with current management.

Burlington Resources Inc. easily surpassed Wall Street’s expectations Wednesday, reporting a 238% increase in net income in the third quarter on higher commodity prices and a 3% overall boost in natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs) and crude oil production. Progress in the company’s cost containment efforts also helped the bottom line.

In the near-term, gas prices could easily drop below $4/MMBtu because of the rapid rise in storage levels this spring. But summer prices likely will spike above $6, and the long-term forecast shows prices will average between $4 and $5, said Robert Morris of Salomon Smith Barney at NGI’s GasMart/Power in Tampa last week. However, Morris doesn’t expect recurring winter peaks above $10/MMBtu.