Proved

Countering Wednesday’s trade where natural gas cash points came off across the board, Thursday’s trade for the long Christmas holiday weekend proved to be the exact opposite.

As the general weekend respite from a widespread spell of cold weather proved to be fleeting, prices rebounded strongly Monday from their only overall softness of the previous week. Besides the prospects of heating load shooting higher again, the previous Friday’s 15.7-cent gain by December futures and the return of industrial demand from its typical weekend lull contributed to cash market increases.

The bullish effect of a smidgen of extra cooling load and a rare boost from prior-day futures proved to have short effect in raising cash prices. After gains at virtually all points on Monday, flat to slightly higher numbers remained in a moderate majority Tuesday but were being infiltrated by several small losses.

Most of Canada’s natural gas output continues to be unearthed from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin of Alberta. However, as U.S. operators have proved, shale gas development, which can be developed at lower prices, is ramping up, with British Columbia’s (BC) Horn River and Montney shales now holding the most promise to revive the country’s dwindling production, Barclays Capital analysts said in a report.

The modest Midwest warming trend that had helped boost most of the market slightly a day earlier proved to be short-lived, and so did the small rally as prices fell at a majority of locations Thursday.

Most of Canada’s natural gas output continues to be unearthed from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin of Alberta. However, as U.S. operators have proved, shale gas development, which can be developed at lower prices, is ramping up, with British Columbia’s (BC) Horn River and Montney shales now holding the most promise to revive the country’s dwindling production, Barclays Capital analysts said in a report Tuesday.

Hurricane Alex-inspired precautionary production shut-ins in the Gulf of Mexico last week proved inconsequential to U.S. natural gas supply as the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported Thursday morning that a larger-than-expected 78 Bcf injection was made into storage for the week ending July 2. Natural gas futures values plunged on the news.

Wednesday’s rally in the face of bearish weather demand proved to be a fluke as prices fell at all but one point Thursday in trading for the Good Friday/Easter holiday weekend. Prior-day futures softness and the extra loss of industrial load during a long holiday weekend also figured into the cash losses.

Wednesday’s rally in the face of bearish weather demand proved to be a fluke as prices fell at all but one point Thursday in trading for the Good Friday/Easter holiday weekend. Prior-day futures softness and the extra loss of industrial load during a long holiday weekend also figured into the cash losses.