Positions

May natural gas futures gained ground in active trading Wednesday as traders covered short positions in seeking to minimize exposure over the upcoming three-day weekend and not get caught on the wrong side of what could be a developing market trend. At the end of the day May had risen 4.8 cents to $4.310 and June gained 4.7 cents to $4.357. May crude oil vaulted higher $3.17 to $111.45/bbl.

Just days after leaving office, former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell has signed on for two new positions that could allow him to keep a hand at the political table and a presence in the public forum.

February natural gas futures rose Friday as traders showed little appetite for risk and elected to cover short positions prior to the long holiday weekend. Short-term traders see little likelihood that the market will continue higher. At the close February futures rose 7.3 cents to $4.480 and March gained 7.1 cents to $4.490. February crude oil added 14 cents to $91.54/bbl.

Natural gas futures drew to a mixed close Tuesday as traders cited little in the way of new fundamental data and noted the rolling of short positions into more deferred contract months. At the close November futures rose 2.8 cents to $3.629 and December fell 1.8 cents to $3.992. November crude oil lost 54 cents to $81.67/bbl.

November natural gas futures continued to retreat as traders noted that much of the direction of the market was determined as much by spread trading as the trading of outright positions. At the close November futures fell 5.0 cents to $3.601 and December shed 3.6 cents to $4.010. November crude oil skidded 45 cents to $82.21/bbl.

October natural gas futures surged Friday as traders elected to cover short positions ahead of what could be an extended and tumultuous weather weekend. At the close October futures rose 18.8 cents to $3.939 and November added 14.5 cents to $4.170. October crude oil fell 42 cents to $74.60.

Puget Sound Energy (PSE) has named Executive Vice President Kimberly Harris, 46, as the utility’s new president. Harris joined PSE in 1999 and has held several leadership positions during the past 11 years — most recently serving as executive vice president and chief resource officer, responsible for all of PSE’s energy resources, including project development and contract management, energy efficiency services and federal government relations. Prior to that she was a senior vice president for regulatory policy and energy efficiency. Harris also has been PSE’s vice president of regulatory and government affairs, associate general counsel and director of load resource strategies.

Devon Energy Corp. has decided to not accelerate its North American dry gas production other than to secure acreage positions or to test “a few new concepts,” CEO J. Larry Nichols said last week.

Giving energy market participants a more detailed snapshot of the types of market participants and their current positions in an effort to boost market transparency, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) last week rolled out more than three years of history of disaggregated data included in their weekly Commitments of Traders (COT) reports.