Overall

Oilfield services giant Nabors Industries Ltd. on Tuesday warned that operating results for the second quarter will fall below consensus estimates because of a “pronounced” shortfall in the pressure pumping and top drive completion service lines.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. has begun operating its 850,000 net acre leasehold in the Mississippian Lime jointly with China’s Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration Corp. after the duo completed a $1 billion-plus joint venture (JV) agreement.

Physical natural gas overall fell 2 cents in Thursday’s trading, but that followed the typical Thursday script of traders getting their deals done prior to the release of Energy Information Administration (EIA) inventory data.

Cash quotes overall fell 7 cents Tuesday as Northeast points reacted to an expected moderation in temperatures as well as weaker power prices and led the march lower. Eastern points weren’t too far behind, and gas for delivery Wednesday into the Great Lakes area slid about a nickel. July natural gas slid 9.2 cents to $3.647 and August dropped 9.0 cents to $3.670. August crude oil added 14 cents to $95.32/bbl.

Overall, cash prices fell 3 cents Friday in a broad retreat as only a handful of points made it to the positive side of the trading ledger. Offsetting the pervasive selling was the Northeast, which scored double-digit gains. Eastern locations were mixed, but the Rockies and major market trading points fell hard. At the close of futures trading, July had fallen 10.6 cents to $3.771 and August was down 10.6 cents as well to $3.793. August crude oil continued its losing ways, giving up $1.45 to $93.69/bbl.

Physical gas for weekend and Monday delivery overall eased a penny as traders saw little incentive to buy a three-day package under conditions of mild expected weather and the ability to easily make intraday purchases as needed.

Cash market prices overall fell 4 cents Thursday with the greatest weakness demonstrated by northeast and eastern points. To avoid unnecessary volatility, traders typically make their deals prior to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) release of inventory data, and in Thursday’s trading, cash and futures markets moved in opposite directions. In the West, Colorado industry groups reported that raging wildfires in the state were not impacting oil and gas.

Consumption of natural gas in both the United States and Mexico is on the rise, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), which once again revised its natural gas price forecasts upward for the rest of 2013 and 2014.

Nearly every major natural gas play in the United States makes money at prices above $4.00/Mcf, and more important, can generate a “decent rate of return” at prices above $4.25, according to an analysis by Raymond James & Associates Inc.