Exploring

After opening on Wednesday 28 cents lower than Tuesday’s settle, January natural gas quickly found support at $13.630 before exploring higher. Fluctuating weather reports and storage uncertainty allowed traders to push the prompt month to the day’s high of $14.400 before closing a few minutes later at $14.271, up 19.1 cents on the day.

With the November contract’s expiration out of the way, December natural gas spent its first regular session as front month exploring support lines. After notching a low of $12.88, December went on to settle at $13.055, down 62.9 cents on the day and 11.2 cents lower than the contract’s previous Friday close. November natural gas expired Thursday at $13.832.

Washington Gas, a subsidiary of WGL Holdings Inc., is exploring whether an outbreak of leaks in the utility’s natural gas distribution pipelines and mains in Prince George’s County, MD, is the result of aging connections or the introduction of regasified LNG to its system.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) and U.S. company-backed electric generation plants were only part of the discussions Wednesday at a day-long workshop exploring “California-Mexico Border Energy Issues” in San Diego. The workshop was sponsored by a regional association of governments and the California Energy Commission (CEC). Demographics, economic development, and environmental protection held equal time with various energy supply/demand assessments.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) and U.S. company-backed electric generation plants were only part of the discussions Wednesday at a day-long workshop exploring “California-Mexico Border Energy Issues” in San Diego. The workshop was sponsored by a regional association of governments and the California Energy Commission (CEC). Demographics, economic development, and environmental protection held equal time with various energy supply/demand assessments.

Washington Gas, a subsidiary of WGL Holdings Inc., is exploring whether an outbreak of leaks in the utility’s natural gas distribution pipelines and mains in Prince George’s County, MD, is the result of aging connections or the introduction of regasified LNG to its system.

Tired of exploring the upper end of the range during the prior two sessions only to fail, natural gas futures traders opted to take the low road instead on Friday. Trading within a minimalist $6.02 to $6.115 range, March natural gas futures were actually able to break the two-day streak of settling relatively unchanged. The prompt month settled at $6.093, down 6.7 cents on the session and less than a cent lower than the previous week’s $6.096 close.

After exploring lower Thursday on a bearish natural gas storage report, January natural gas futures took the chance to jump back to the high side in Thursday night Access trading and again on Friday. The prompt month settled Friday at $7.457, up 45.7 cents for the day and up 61.4 cents for the week.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) will discuss its plans for a new weekly natural gas storage survey as part of the GasMart/Power 2002 program exploring the wholesale gas and power markets. It will be held March 18-20 in Reno, NV, and hosted by Intelligence Press Inc.