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Looking to gain a more thorough picture of what goes on in the electronically traded futures markets, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has proposed a rule that would allow the government organization to collect on a weekly basis certain ownership, control and other information for all trading accounts active on U.S. futures exchanges and other reporting entities.

Abundant gas supplies make for a “bleak picture” for gas producers in the near term, Bentek Energy LLC CEO Porter Bennett said last week. While prices will stay in a $3.50-5.50 range for a while, this will ultimately spur demand, particularly among power generators, he posited, and that will be the cure for low prices. But until then — two or three years from now — things will continue to be interesting.

Abundant gas supplies make for a “bleak picture” for gas producers in the near term, Bentek Energy LLC CEO Porter Bennett said Tuesday. While prices will stay in a $3.50-5.50 range for a while, this will ultimately spur demand, particularly among power generators, he posited, and that will be the cure for low prices. But until then — two or three years from now — things will continue to be interesting.

BP plc CEO Tony Hayward said last week natural gas needs to become a bigger part of the U.S. energy picture. Congress should find a better way to maintain jobs than by “preserving them in the coal industry,” he told an audience at the Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, DC.

BP plc CEO Tony Hayward said Tuesday natural gas needs to become a bigger part of the U.S. energy picture. Congress should find a better way to maintain jobs than by “preserving them in the coal industry,” he told an audience at the Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, DC.

BP plc CEO Tony Hayward said Tuesday natural gas needs to become a bigger part of the U.S. energy picture. Congress should find a better way to maintain jobs than by “preserving them in the coal industry,” he told an audience at the Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, DC.

A pair of recent winter weather forecasts — from AccuWeather.com and Andover, MA-based WSI Corp. — paint a picture of colder-than-normal months ahead for much of the country, especially the heavily populated Northeast.

October natural gas futures exploded higher once again on Wednesday, and with the bearish fundamental picture remaining unchanged, market participants were attempting to identify a catalyst. While some were convinced that the recent activities of the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) played a role, others saw the extended rally as nothing more than a wave of fund short-covering.

It’s no secret that the natural gas industry is long on supply and, thanks to the recession, currently short on market. Complicating the picture are the shifting geography of supply sources as producers target unconventional basins, and pipeline capacity constraints, which are expected to periodically push prices down further and put a ceiling on high prices, the founder of Bentek Energy LLC said last Wednesday.