Proved

Thursday’s burst of extremely mild firmness in most of the cash market proved to be short-lived as prices fell at nearly all locations Friday. Spring-like weather was spreading to more areas, and the previous day’s decline of 12.4 cents by April futures and the typical weekend drop of industrial load also depressed spot gas numbers.

The last three months of 2009 proved to be treacherous for U.S.-based oilfield service operators, with Baker Hughes Inc.’s (BHI) profits falling 81%, Halliburton’s off 48% and Schlumberger Ltd.’s down 31%, but a recovery in pricing and services is likely to pick up later this year, executives said.

Modest warming trends, several of which would be under way as early as Wednesday, proved to be no deterrent to a suddenly gangbusters cash market. Getting an extra boost from the previous day’s screen uptick of 22.2 cents, all points were involved in large increases Tuesday.

Wednesday’s increase of a couple of pennies proved to be a mere pit-stop for natural gas futures rather than a change in market direction as the December contract resumed its larger downward slump on Thursday.

Questar Corp.’s decision to allocate 40% of this year’s exploration and production (E&P) capital spending to the Haynesville Shale and 40% to the Pinedale Anticline proved its worth in 2Q2009, with Midcontinent output jumping 16% and Pinedale production up 13% from the year-ago period. Beyond E&P, Questar’s diversified assets demonstrated they were “relatively insensitive” to lower commodity prices, handing the company a distinct competitive advantage, said CEO Keith O. Rattie.

Questar Corp.’s decision to allocate 40% of this year’s exploration and production (E&P) capital spending to the Haynesville Shale and 40% to the Pinedale Anticline proved its worth in 2Q2009, with Midcontinent output jumping 16% and Pinedale production up 13% from the year-ago period. Beyond E&P, Questar’s diversified assets demonstrated they were “relatively insensitive” to lower commodity prices, handing the company a distinct competitive advantage, said CEO Keith O. Rattie.

Cooling load proved to be a stronger influence on the spot market than a Gulf Coast trader had expected Wednesday (see Daily GPI, June 25). Despite the previous day’s 11.8-cent drop by July futures, flat to moderately higher quotes prevailed at most points Thursday of forecasts of highs in at least the mid 80s and often much higher continued to dominate the U.S. weather outlook, while conditions remained fairly mild in most of Canada.

After warding off the March contract in its last week of trading, psychological support at $4 proved to be a similar Achilles heel for April futures bears on Friday. The contract traded below that price level for most of the morning before rallying in the afternoon to close at $4.198, up 12.1 cents from Thursday and 16.2 cents higher than the previous week’s finish.

The previous Friday’s 15.9-cent downturn by March futures proved more persuasive to cash traders Monday than the abundant heating load expected from Tuesday lows predicted to range from a little below zero to the mid 20s across northern market areas and even into the Deep South. The result was falling prices at all points except for Northeast citygates, the Dominion pipeline in Appalachia and the Florida citygate, which were flat to about $1.55 higher.