Quickly

September natural gas futures fell quickly in what appeared to be aggressive technical selling Monday. The selling was nearly instantaneous and looked like it was triggered by a breach of last week’s lows. At the close of the day September fell 10.0 cents to $4.228 and the October contract retreated 10.1 cents to $4.249. September crude oil fell 15 cents to $75.24/bbl.

The premium built into the natural gas futures market heading into the weekend was quickly dispatched of Monday as the two tropical systems that could endanger Gulf of Mexico production turned into nonevents. The retreat was enhanced after the prompt-month contract broke above $5 for the first time in nearly a month and a half, but failed to hold.

After quickly recording a low at $5.621 just minutes into Friday’s regular session, February natural gas futures climbed the rest of the day to close at $5.749, still down 5.7 cents from Thursday’s close but 17.7 cents higher than the previous week’s finish. News of a potential warm-up during the Jan. 11-15 week could have had something to do with the weakness Thursday and Friday.

The speed with which advanced energy technologies are developed and adopted will be the single most important factor in determining how quickly and at what cost greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can be reduced, according to a report issued last week by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy. But the prospect of an effective international climate change deal coming out of the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference, which is scheduled for early December in Copenhagen, Denmark, “is not very bright,” the report concludes.

The speed with which advanced energy technologies are developed and adopted will be the single most important factor in determining how quickly and at what cost greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can be reduced, according to a report issued Thursday by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy. But the prospect of an effective international climate change deal coming out of the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference, which is scheduled for early December in Copenhagen, Denmark, “is not very bright,” the report concludes.

Producers quickly protested President Obama’s pledge before the United Nations Tuesday to phase out subsidies for oil, natural gas and coal to help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

September natural gas futures briefly rallied Thursday following the release of seemingly supportive inventory data but quickly reversed and ended up in the loss column. September futures fell 14.3 cents to $3.336 and October lost 9.4 cents to $3.673. September crude oil rose 36 cents to $70.52/bbl.

U.S. lawmakers “vastly overstate” how quickly business can reduce carbon emissions, and they could risk an economic collapse if unrealistic reduction mandates are imposed, Chevron Corp. CEO Dave O’Reilly said Thursday in Boston.

U.S. lawmakers “vastly overstate” how quickly business can reduce carbon emissions, and they could risk an economic collapse if unrealistic reduction mandates are imposed, Chevron Corp. CEO Dave O’Reilly said Thursday in Boston.