Branching out into other markets while also beating its chief rival to the punch, the New York Mercantile Exchange said it was introducing six new soft commodity futures contracts on the Nymex ClearPort clearing and trading platform at 6 p.m. EST Wednesday for a Dec. 21 trade date. The exchange said it anticipates listing the contracts on Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s Globex electronic platform by the end of January 2007.
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NGI The Weekly Gas Market Report
Producers Begin to Assess the Financial Impact of Rita, Katrina
Recovery from the Katrina-Rita one-two punch has progressed slowly and producers began to take a closer look at the impact on third-quarter earnings from lower production, facility repairs and downtime due to third-party infrastructure damage.
Double Gulf Storm Threat has Futures Sellers in Hiding
With fears swirling over the possible one-two punch to Gulf of Mexico production from Tropical Storms Cindy and Dennis, August natural gas futures found themselves 30.4 cents higher at $7.475 by the end of the regular trading session Tuesday.
Futures Drop a Few Cents, Continue to Eye Weather and Storage
Lacking the punch that Monday’s 32.8-cent increase provided, July natural gas futures on Tuesday failed to back off much, keeping the $7.43 contract high from last Wednesday still firmly within reach.
Overall Price Rebound Sees Scattered Losses
Midweek cooling trends apparently carried more price boosting punch than some traders had expected. Nearly all points were between flat and up nearly half a dollar Wednesday (however, only one point — El Paso San Juan-Bondad — was at the high end; gains elsewhere were limited to less than a quarter).
Futures Bounce Off Previous Low Ahead of Storage
After threatening for most of the morning to punch below the $6 mark, August natural gas futures rebounded from near its previous $6.025 low to settle at $6.155, up 3.7 cents on the day.
Price Plunges Largest in Blackout-Stricken Northeast
As anticipated, the one-two punch of a larger-than-expected storage injection and what is believed to be the largest-ever power blackout punished cash prices Friday. Declines ranged from about 15 cents to more than half a dollar, with a majority of points dropping 30 cents or more. Northeast citygates predictably racked up most of the largest losses.
Futures Rebound as Storage Data Lacks Bearish Punch
After checking lower in the moments following the news that 93 Bcf was injected into storage last week, the natural gas futures rebounded Wednesday as scale-down and technical buying propelled the market back above the $5.00 mark. At $5.05, the August contract closed 11.6 cents higher for the session, and just a few ticks below its $5.075 high on the day.
Isidore Cuts Broad Swath Through Gulf, Forces Massive Production Cuts
Few tropical storms have packed the punch of Isidore. Despite not reaching hurricane strength, the storm, with its wide girth, heavy rain and high seas and winds, wiped out as much as 4.5 million bbl of oil and 25 Bcf of natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico last week as hordes of producers fled Gulf platforms and rigs, according to the Minerals Management Service (MMS). October futures prices soared to new 15-month highs at $3.99 last Monday before retreating to $3.686 at expiration on Thursday, and Henry Hub cash prices jumped to highs of more than $4 before slipping to $3.59 on Thursday.
FERC Casts Wide Net Over Western Power Sellers — Is Gas Next?
FERC delivered a powerful one-two punch in energy, financial and political circles last week. First, it released explosive documents that appeared to all but substantiate charges that the once-mighty Enron Corp. manipulated trading in the California power market. And before the shock waves had subsided, it launched an industry-wide dragnet targeting 150 electric suppliers to find out just how widespread the use of questionable trading practices has been in the western wholesale energy markets. The gas industry could be the next target, some believe.