Puzzling

The general weather moderation in most areas had proven puzzling Tuesday when most points rose a few cents, but it appeared that logical behavior had returned to the market Wednesday as prices fell across the board. The previous day’s futures decline of 1.1 cent, while minuscule, was an added slightly bearish factor in the cash market.

Natural gas prices reflect a degree of enthusiasm that is typical for this time of year, particularly if there are hurricanes lurking in the Gulf of Mexico, but according to one market observer, once traders weigh healthy storage inventories against expected winter weather, an option strategy designed to take advantage of high levels of volatility may be the trade to make.

Puzzling out what lies where in the Gulf of Mexico will beeasier with the availability of digital coordinate data for all ofthe Gulf’s gas and oil pipelines. The U.S. Department of theInterior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) has introduced anautomated pipeline mapping system that covers 20,000 miles ofpipelines in federal waters.