Mostly

Prices continued to sink Friday, but by significantly smaller amounts than the day before. Declines mostly ranged between a nickel and 15 cents, but were larger in California largely due to milder weather in the state. A majority of the price drops were in the vicinity of a dime.

Coalbed methane (CBM) production, which up to now has been mostly centered in the Rocky Mountain Basin, appears to be where it’s at for both large and small domestic producers, with several recent announcements to beef up exploration and production in not only the well known basin in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, but also in smaller plays around the United States.

The August aftermarket got off to a fairly strong start Tuesday. Most points ranged from about a nickel to as much as a quarter above end-of-July numbers, although a few scattered points registered moderate declines. Advances over apparent August indexes also ranged from just a few cents to more than 20 cents in many cases, but the Rockies/San Juan market tended to be as much as half a dollar over index on several pipes.

The cash market managed one more day of mostly small price gains Wednesday, but based on another 100 Bcf-plus storage injection report from AGA and subsequent screen softening, several sources felt safe in predicting falling cash numbers today.

Kern River Gas Transmission Co. reported last week that it was soliciting bids from natural gas shippers seeking to replace some or all of their long-term, firm transportation service with primary firm delivery point entitlements at Kern River’s Wheeler Ridge delivery point to Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) with primary delivery point entitlements at a proposed Kramer Junction interconnect with SoCalGas.

Trading inside the range established on Wednesday and Thursday, natural gas futures checked mostly sideways Friday as light short covering ahead of the weekend was met with an almost equal amount of overhead selling. The July contract finished at $3.93, up 1.6 cents on the day, but down 10.3 cents for the week.

The vibes were mostly positive in California last week with no blackouts, a new law creating a state power authority, initial work for the state’s record $13.4 billion municipal bond sale and a record $5.7 billion retail electricity rate increase being spread to the largest residential users and businesses of all sizes.

Beneath the hefty first quarter earnings’ figures for oil and gas companies, a more compelling tale is unfolding as both majors and independents operating in North America appear to be benefiting from the move to the drill bit. Production numbers so far are mixed, but some indicate that gas production is up significantly — with some companies predicting the best is yet to come.

After Wednesday’s storage-induced sell-off, natural gas futures were mostly quiet Thursday as many traders elected to stay on the sidelines ahead of the holiday weekend. As a result, prices did not stray very much from where they started. A negative open was erased by modest late-morning advances. At the closing bell the bears won it by a nose, with the May contract closing 0.4 cents lower at $5.381. In observance of Good Friday, there was no Access trading Thursday evening and no trading on Friday. The market will reopen on Sunday at 7 p.m.