Gains

Natural gas futures added to the previous day’s gains Wednesday as the November contract traded between $3.748 and $3.888 before coming to a close at $3.865, up 12.2 cents from Tuesday’s finish.

Mild to cool weather is dominant, but most points realize small gains.

Although not as strong as on the day before when gains across the board were nearly all in double digits, the cash market realized minor advances at a large majority of points Thursday. A small prior-day uptick of 2.8 cents by October futures provided a small amount of support, and there is evidence that recently heavy storage buying may be helping to keep cash quotes afloat.

Natural gas prices made modest gains in most North American markets Thursday, surprising most sources polled by NGI, who pointed to continued bearish fundamental factors and a futures market that showed little sign of rebound.

Modest gains dominated the cash market Monday, even though warm to moderate forecasts in most areas were mostly unsupportive of price bullishness. However, a minor 3.2-cent uptick by September futures on the preceding Friday did help.

Lifted by growth in its steady natural gas pipeline business and gains from the exploration unit, El Paso Corp. said last week quarterly net income rose 86% from a year ago to $147 million (21 cents/share), compared with $79 million (11 cents) in the year-ago period. Revenue rose to $1.4 billion from $1 billion.

Only a couple of Western Canadian points where temperatures were staying fairly mild got left out of heat-driven gains at all other locations Monday. The previous Friday’s advance of 9.6 cents by September futures gave an added boost to the cash market.

Prices made small gains at most points Tuesday, nearly all of them in the East. Hot weather had lessened a bit since late last week but was still considerable enough with high forecasts on either side of 90 in the South, Northeast and parts of the Midwest and Rockies to keep power generation load fairly strong. The previous day’s 3.2-cent futures also contributed to cash strength.

Heat levels would keep reaching the low 90s to 110 area Tuesday in the southern third of the U.S., but that failed to keep the weekend’s price gains going Monday. Otherwise, peak temperatures were forecast to be limited to the 80s in most other areas outside the south end of the Northeast.