Finish

Continuing the downward trend, December natural gas futures fell 24.5 cents Friday to settle below the $8 mark at $7.954. For the week, the prompt month fell 77.1 cents from the previous Friday’s $8.725 close.

Continuing the downward trend, December natural gas futures fell 24.5 cents Friday to settle below the $8 mark at $7.954. For the week, the prompt month fell 77.1 cents from the previous Friday’s $8.725 close.

After bouncing off the $7.05 level numerous times during morning trading, November natural gas futures gave up on traveling below $7 for the session. Instead, with help from another strong day turned in by crude and heating oil futures, the prompt month went on to settle at $7.163, just 9.2 cents lower than Thursday’s close.

Moving toward the finish line, FERC last Wednesday approved five more settlements — with Coral Power, Sempra Energy Trading, Dynegy, Glendale, CA and the Northern California Power Agency — related to its show cause order on gaming or improper partnerships in power trading, bringing the settlement total to 18.

Moving toward the finish line, FERC Wednesday approved five more settlements — with Coral Power, Sempra Energy Trading, Dynegy, Glendale, CA and the Northern California Power Agency — related to its show cause order on gaming or improper partnerships in power trading, bringing the settlement total to 18.

FERC last Tuesday gave Southern Natural Gas about a five-month reprieve to complete and put into service its Phase II pipeline looping and compression facilities to meet the expanding natural gas demand of industrial and power generation customers in the Southeast.

FERC on Tuesday gave Southern Natural Gas about a five-month reprieve to complete and put into service its Phase II pipeline looping and compression facilities to meet the expanding natural gas demand of industrial and power generation customers in the Southeast.

Marking it three consecutive days of double-digit price drops to end the week, the July natural gas futures contract on Friday declined 10.2 cents to settle at $6.261. While the prompt month was unable to threaten the $6 mark, it did reach a low on the day of $6.22, a level untouched since May 19.

Natural gas is part of a “four-horse race” in which all four will finish together, if state energy officials are facile enough to bring gas, renewables, energy efficiency and liquefied natural gas (LNG) under the wire simultaneously, a state natural gas expert told an industry audience in Denver last week.