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In a session that had a little for both bull and bear, natural gas futures spiraled higher early Thursday only to crash lower late in the day as traders were finally successful breaking beneath support. In doing so the prompt contract slipped 5.9 cents lower to close at $4.054.

With little or no air-conditioning related demand on the horizon and amid a quickly eroding year-on-year storage deficit, natural gas futures slumped to new 9-month lows Monday as traders pressed the market’s downside yet again. After opening lower, the June contract was hit with a steady procession of commercial and speculative selling that took the market down to a previous low at $4.10 just before the closing bell. Unable to rebound, June closed just off that level at $4.113, down 17.3 cents for the day.

Bucking the overall trend in Canada of little to no progress on the electric competition front, Alberta and Ontario earned high marks in a recently released report issued by the Center for the Advancement of Energy Markets (CAEM).

Summer-like temperatures are coming a little earlier than California officials had hoped as the California Independent System Operator implemented a Stage 2 power alert and expected modest rolling blackouts for the third day in a row Wednesday, struggling with what it called extreme high temperatures throughout the region and insufficient resources. A 750-MW unit was knocked out in the San Francisco Bay area in the afternoon, further worsening the situation.

Bucking the overall trend in Canada of little to no progress on the electric competition front, Alberta and Ontario earned high marks in a recently released report issued by the Center for the Advancement of Energy Markets (CAEM).

Gas reserves grew substantially in 2000 with a little help from declining production and a big turnaround in drilling, according to a new report by the American Gas Association. The AGA report shows that based on the behavior of 30 large reserve holders examined, total domestic gas reserve additions are expected to be 24 Tcf or greater for 2000. Because only 19.2 Tcf is estimated to have been produced, reserves for 2000 are expected to have grown from 164.7 Tcf to more than 170 Tcf — the highest level of reserves since 1987, AGA said. Additions to gas reserves exceeded domestic production by at least 26% in 2000.

With little in the way of fresh fundamental or technical developments, natural gas futures slid sideways and lower for the second day in a row Tuesday, as traders elected to remain mostly on the sidelines ahead of fresh storage data to be released this afternoon. The May contract closed 4.7 cents lower at $5.078.

With little in the way of fresh fundamental news, natural gastraders were forced to base their decisions on a combination oftechnical factors and their own personal instinct Thursday, as theylifted prices steadily higher throughout the trading session. TheApril contract closed 17.1 cents higher at $5.212, just off its$5.22 high on the day.

Pressured by selling in Thursday night’s Access trading session,natural gas futures broke to the bottom of its recent trading rangeFriday as sellers liquidated positions ahead of the weekend. Aftergapping lower at the open, the price action was almost entirely inbears’ favor. A brief and ultimately insignificant rally attemptshortly after noon (EST) was all bulls could muster and as a resultprices were left to finish the day on their lows. The Aprilcontract was the hardest hit, dropping 21.3 cents to close at$5.072.