Halting

Relatively warm weather during winter’s final months and a halting economic upturn continued to keep a lid on natural gas sales during the first quarter of 2012.read more

Relatively warm weather during winter’s final months and a halting economic upturn continued to keep a lid on natural gas sales during the first quarter of 2012, according to NGI’s 1Q2012 Top North American Gas Marketers Ranking, which found a majority of companies reporting sales declining or flat compared with 1Q2011.

President Obama Thursday said he is halting or suspending drilling or planned drilling in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and offshore Alaska and Virginia in response to the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig and mammoth oil spill.

Halting the string of consecutively lower closes at four, traders on Wednesday pushed January natural gas futures to a high of $7.780 in quiet trading before the contract ended up closing at $7.727, up 4.2 cents on the day.

Connecticut Gov. John Rowland last Friday issued an executive order halting any final decisions or approvals for construction of large-scale gas or electric transmission projects, pending the completion of a study by a task force on transmission issues. Significantly, the order, which takes effect immediately, does not apply to a high-voltage electric transmission cable across Long Island Sound which is just days away from the start of construction.

The rout was on Tuesday in the cash market. Buffeted by a fairlybenign weather outlook, both near-term and for the transitionperiod into February, and a plunging screen, prices fell betweenabout 50 cents and a dollar at almost every point. Malin’s declineof about 15 cents spotlighted it as relatively firmer than the restof a very weak market.

After halting its fourth quarter dividend and requestingemergency help from the state for gas purchases last week, PacificGas & Electric Co. revealed that it also will lay off 325employees immediately and another 675 over the next several monthsto save $180 million.

After halting a three-day, 25-cent price slide Tuesday, naturalgas futures slowly began to build yesterday what bulls would liketo think is a base on which further gains will be added. Andalthough it is far from universal, that sentiment was echoed byothers who think that the confluence of relatively strong cashprices and rallying crude oil prices are supportive factors fornatural gas. The April contract finished 3.1 cents higher at $1.748in light trading.