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With a modicum of colder weather coming back into the market picture, prices responded with mostly moderate increases at nearly all points Tuesday. The few instances of flat to lower numbers were primarily associated with the warm Florida market, which as recently as late last week had experience near-freezing temperatures in the northern half of the state.

Shrugging off what appeared on face value to be a bearish natural gas storage report, February natural gas futures on Thursday morning chose to follow the weather story instead, jumping significantly higher following two consecutive days of decline. The prompt month peaked at $6.52 on the session before settling at $6.445, up 50.2 cents from Wednesday’s settle.

Continuing the momentum from Monday’s 50.5-cent slide lower, January natural gas futures probed lower Tuesday on news that a majority of the U.S. might not be subjected to a stretch of below normal temperatures as previously predicted.

Putting the first, albeit small, chink in the rosy natural gas storage picture, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Thursday morning that 68 Bcf was put into underground storage for the week ended Sept. 17. The weekly storage injection was considered largely bullish when compared to historical data for the week, but most industry-watchers had been expecting a smaller-than-normal injection because of the impact of Hurricane Ivan on Gulf of Mexico production.

The weather picture is still decidedly bearish in the Midwest and Northeast market areas, but the cash market was able to cobble together a substantial rebound at all points from last week’s five-day losing streak Monday. A fresh surge of activity on the Atlantic tropical storm front and a trend of gradually rising temperatures in the South starting Tuesday provided the main support for higher numbers.

Although the overall weather picture remains basically moderate, there apparently is just enough chill returning to cause cash prices to level off or rally Wednesday. A majority of points were flat to slightly higher, with gains of more than about a nickel largely limited to the Rockies/Pacific Northwest. California and some Northeast citygates saw small declines.

Chromium 6 — the toxic chemical that made famous Erin Brockovich, the woman and the motion picture, four years ago — has surfaced as an issue again related to Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s natural gas transmission system at the Arizona-California border.

Total natural gas supply is on track to grow at a slower rate over the next two decades than had been previously anticipated, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said last Thursday in its Annual Energy Outlook for 2004 (AEO2004). And that’s after liquefied natural gas (LNG), unconventional gas and Alaska gas have been factored in.

Total natural gas supply is projected to grow at a slower rate over the next two decades than had been previously anticipated, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Thursday in its Annual Energy Outlook for 2004 (AEO2004). And that’s after liquefied natural gas (LNG), unconventional gas and Alaska gas have been factored in.