Finally

After attacking the $5 mark for the majority of the afternoon, the October natural gas futures contract finally broke below that psychological support level near the end of the open outcry session, notching a low on the day of $4.955 before settling at $4.965, down 10.9 cents on the day.

With a new budget finally put in place in California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger turned his attention to energy issues but got off to a rocky start last Monday with a news report quoting local government officials, environmental groups and consumer activists blasting the governor’s cabinet members for taking an 11-day trip with energy company executives to Australia and South Korea to visit liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities.

With a new budget finally put in place over the weekend, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to turn his attention to energy issues this month, but his administration got off to a rocky start Monday with a news report quoting local government officials, environmental groups and consumer activists blasting the governor’s cabinet members for taking an 11-day trip with energy company executives to Australia and South Korea to visit liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities.

After refusing to bow to weak weather fundamentals in the previous two days, prices practically did a curtsy for weather Friday with declines ranging from about a dime to a quarter. The softness was fairly homogenous across geographic areas, although Northeast citygates and several western points tended to garner most of the drops of 20 cents or more.

The record pace of drilling in Canada has finally started to pay off. Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB) reported that natural gas exports to the United States through February of this year were up 1.3% to 626.5 Bcf, or about 10.44 Bcf/d, compared to 618.7 Bcf, or 10.31 Bcf/d, over the same period in 2003. The NEB said the biggest volume increase was to the California market where exports jumped 23%. Volumes to the Pacific Northwest rose 15%. Exports to the Northeast and Midwest fell by 7% and 0.8%, respectively. Gas exports in the month of February totaled 303.7 Bcf compared to 291.7 Bcf in February 2003. During 2003, exports fell to 3.5 Tcf, their lowest level since 1999 when exports were 3.37 Tcf. The U.S. Energy Information Administration expects gross pipeline imports to fall this year to 3.28 Tcf from 3.42 Tcf in 2003. Meanwhile, Lehman Brothers analyst Thomas Driscoll said on Tuesday that he expects Canadian gas production to rise 1.2% this year to 16.6 Bcf/d. Driscoll said first quarter Canadian production was flat at 16.5 Bcf/d based on a survey of 14 major gas producers.

The record pace of drilling in Canada has finally started to pay off. Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB) reported that natural gas exports to the United States through February of this year were up 1.3% to 626.5 Bcf, or about 10.44 Bcf/d, compared to 618.7 Bcf, or 10.31 Bcf/d, over the same period in 2003.

After weeks of flirting with the $6 resistance level, May natural gas futures finally broke it Monday, spending a majority of the day above May’s previous high of $5.99, which was set on April 1. The prompt month settled at $6.009, up 6.8 cents on the day, while trading within the $5.890-6.030 range.

Spring is busting out all over — finally — and that translates to lower spot prices. Quotes fell across the board Thursday; a few drops were in single digits, but the rest were fairly consistent in all regions in ranging from a dime to just over 20 cents.

With sources in the Northeast and Midwest feeling that they could finally say good-bye to Old Man Winter after the dude had prolonged his stay to uncomfortable lengths, it was hardly surprising to see all points united in mostly moderate softening Tuesday. Northeast citygates led the losses that ranged from about a nickel to 20 cents. Most were on either side of a dime.