Faltering

This week’s price run-up appeared to be faltering Wednesday as increases got much smaller and a bit more softness crept into the market. There was still plenty of heat to go around for Thursday, but the modest psychological boost of a tropical storm off the Mexican coast apparently was wearing off quickly and some anticipation of the weak-demand holiday weekend may have had quite a few traders backing off purchases in preparation for avoiding positive imbalance penalties.

The cash market showed it had not yet run out of steam, despite a futures rally faltering slightly a day earlier, as it logged increases across the board Wednesday in its third straight day of overwhelming firmness. Outside the well established major heat areas of the south-central and southwestern U.S., cooling load was no stronger than normal at best in the South and about to start receding to some extent in the Northeast following an extended above-normal period.

After faltering a couple of times earlier in the week, the general bearishness of weather fundamentals reasserted itself Friday. Even with their first prior-day futures support in more than a week, prices fell at nearly all points.

Canadian natural gas exports dropped last year as a faltering economy and rising U.S. supplies reduced overall reliance on imported natural gas, shows a trade scorecard kept by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Canadian natural gas exports dropped last year as a faltering economy and rising U.S. supplies reduced overall reliance on imported natural gas, shows a trade scorecard kept by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Fittingly enough, traders of February natural gas futures stuck with their trend of the week Friday by continuing to side with the faltering economy over chilly temperatures. The prompt-month contract ended up dropping 4.2 cents Friday to close at $4.801, which was 71.5 cents, or 13% lower than the previous week’s finish.

January natural gas futures inched higher Tuesday as traders saw a market that looks to have put in a bottom but was unable to shrug off a faltering oil market. January rose 1.3 cents to $5.579, and February gained 2 cents to $5.632. January crude oil fell $1.64 to $42.07/bbl.

With nearly a year to go before announced increases go into effect, Alberta royalties and faltering natural gas drilling swiftly emerged as an issue after Conservative Premier Ed Stelmach called a provincial election for March 3.

With nearly a year to go before announced increases go into effect, Alberta royalties and faltering natural gas drilling swiftly emerged as an issue after Conservative Premier Ed Stelmach called a provincial election for March 3.