June

The expiring May natural gas futures contract is expected to open a penny higher Tuesday morning at $2.50 as traders acknowledge ongoing mild weather patterns yet at the same time see a pricing environment favoring long-term advances rather than continued price erosion. Overnight oil markets eased.

Traders in the natural gas forward market eyeing May, June and the remainder of the summer strip don’t seem to be expecting much in the way of surprises. Some obvious considerations seem to be the degree to which reductions in industry capital expenditures will reduce production, the usual hurricane forecasts and the weather in general.

Traders in the natural gas forward market eyeing May, June and the remainder of the summer strip don’t seem to be expecting much in the way of surprises. Some obvious considerations seem to be the degree to which reductions in industry capital expenditures will reduce production, the usual hurricane forecasts and the weather in general.

U.S. natural gas production hit 87.08 Bcf/d in June, a 0.5% increase from 86.63 Bcf/d in May and a whopping 6.9% (5.61 Bcf/d) more than in June 2013, according to the latest Monthly Natural Gas Gross Production Report issued Friday by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Appalachian pure-play Eclipse Resources Corp. produced 42 MMcfe/d in the second quarter, a sixty-fold increase from the 679 Mcfe/d it reported last year at the same time.

The upstream oil and gas economy in Texas has been expanding for the past four and a half years and shows no signs of slowing thanks in part — but not entirely — to global geopolitical tensions, according to a barometer of industry activity called the Texas Petro Index (TPI).

GreenHunter Resources Inc.said Monday that it plans to construct 34 miles of transmission and gathering pipeline in the Appalachian Basin to transport freshwater, oilfield waste and hydrocarbons to one of its barge terminals on the Ohio River, where it will also construct a processing facility to split condensates.

Onshore natural gas driller Memorial Resource Development Corp. rocked the Nasdaq Friday, its first trading day, with the stock gaining close to 17% from the opening price of $19.00.

The expiring June futures contract is seen opening 2 cents higher Wednesday morning at $4.53 as traders mull strength in the cash market and position themselves before the release of Thursday’s gas storage report. Overnight oil markets eased.