Pushed

Cash prices were pushed lower at most locations Friday by a combination of prior-day futures softness, cool but generally moderate weather and the tendency of industrial load to take the weekend off.

January natural gas futures pushed to a new high on Monday at $5.409 as temperature forecasts were calling for the chill to stick around longer than expected for much of the United States. The prompt-month contract ended up closing out the day at $5.332, up 16.9 cents from Friday’s finish.

After recording consecutive new lows on Wednesday and Thursday, the December natural gas futures contract on Friday halted the streak and pushed higher. The prompt-month contract — which terminates on Tuesday — recorded a high of $4.442 before closing Friday’s regular session at $4.424, up 8.2 cents from Thursday’s finish and 3.2 cents north of the previous week’s close.

Without any real cold temperatures to speak of in the markets that matter, December natural gas futures pushed lower for most of Wednesday’s regular session and entered a price gap that was created almost two months ago. The prompt-month contract closed at $4.254, down 27.6 cents from Tuesday’s finish.

The Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Thursday morning report that 64 Bcf was injected into underground natural gas storage for the week ending Sept. 25 pushed working gas levels above the all-time storage record — with five weeks still remaining in the traditional refill season. The injection, which was slightly larger than most industry expectations, allowed natural gas futures values to head lower.

Recovering from Thursday’s 30-cent swoon and giving the recent rally a second lease on life, October natural gas futures pushed higher again during Friday’s regular session to close at $3.778, up 32 cents from Thursday’s finish and 81.8 cents higher than the previous week’s close.

Dismissing a natural gas storage injection report that was right in line with industry estimates, expiring September natural gas futures pushed to a new low for the move at $2.692 before rebounding to go off the board at $2.843, down 6.7 cents from Wednesday’s finish. The October contract dropped 8.8 cents to close at $3.206.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, last week pushed back her timeline for completing mark-up on climate change legislation to early September.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has pushed back her timeline for completing mark-up on climate change legislation to early September.