Elusive

A small handful of cold, hard numbers tells why Canadian shale gas is forced to rely on elusive Asian exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to thaw out drilling prospects

Natural gas and crude futures continued to sink on Wednesday as bullish fundamentals for each commodity remained elusive. August natural gas declined by 7.6 cents to close at $3.353 while August crude futures plummeted $2.79 to close at $60.14/bbl.

Except for 90-degree-plus high temperatures in parts of the West, fundamental weather demand remained subpar in most markets Thursday. Yet cash prices managed to solidify and strengthen the mild rally that had begun the previous day.

A writer of detective fiction might call it The Mystery of the Unsupported Bullishness. Even with the typical lower demand of a weekend added to other negative fundamental influences arguing for lower gas prices, most of the cash market continued to achieve small advances Friday.

As of last Friday, 35 days away from the Federal EnergyRegulatory Commission’s August recess and counting….there wasstill no official sign of its promised plan to cure the gas marketof its ills. But rumors abounded that the alleged “gas options”paper has been circulated to pipelines and producers and isundergoing a variety of alterations. There also was one report thatthe plan might not, after all, see daylight until after the recess.