Quietly

New Mexico state officials promised Monday not to go quietly in the wake of White House intervention to speed up consideration of Houston-based El Paso Corp.’s plans to drill for coalbed methane in a pristine national forest region in the northeastern part of the state. An energy task force set up by the Bush Administration has overridden U.S. Forest Service opposition, according to a front page report in the Los Angeles Times.

With little fanfare, Enron Corp.’s plan to emerge from bankruptcy was approved Thursday morning by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York.

After dropping to a low on the day of $6.58 in early trading, the June natural gas futures contract, in its last day as the prompt month, pulled itself back up during the afternoon to close at $6.680, down $0.004 for the day. The July contract closed at $6.732, down $0.008. About 88,586 contracts changed hands.

While the April futures contract exited quietly on Monday, the May contract began its prompt-month run Tuesday like a rock band, jumping 26.4 cents on the day to close at $5.746. After notching a high of $5.775 at 12:37 p.m. ET, the May contract stayed above $5.70, moving up to test the $5.77 mark a number of other times during the afternoon.

Despite a dip in the nearby crude oil market, natural gas futures trudged quietly higher Tuesday as traders wrestled with the contradictory forces of supportive technicals and bearish near-term storage outlooks. It wasn’t pretty, but the April contract did manage to eke out a modest 1.5-cent advance to notch its fifth straight daily advance. It closed at $5.565.

Adding to Tuesday’s rebound, the natural gas futures market worked its way quietly higher Wednesday as bargain buyers again narrowly outnumbered speculative sellers. Some short-covering was also seen with traders taking a balanced portfolio approach prior to the release of fresh inventory data. The November contract finished at $4.924, up 4.9 cents for the session and within striking distance of overhead resistance in the $4.98-$5.00 area.

With little in the way of fresh fundamental information, natural gas futures traders quietly took profits Friday in sparse pre-weekend trading. In contrast to the previous Friday’s frenzied long liquidation, the selling late last week was light, evidence that traders like the market’s chances of climbing higher when trading resumes this week. The October contract finished at $4.771, down 3.9 cents for the day, but up 4 cents for the week. At 39,107, estimated volume was extremely light.

Marketing and trading is central to a deregulated natural gas market, and it is gradually and very quietly being restored as producers and utilities hire traders to build their marketing departments. Traders who once worked for major marketers who were part of the “midstream meltdown are being dispersed into smaller shops,” said Edward M. Kelly, head of North American gas and power consulting for Wood Mackenzie.

Despite calls for an expiration-day short-covering rally, natural gas futures traded listlessly sideways Tuesday, evidence that most traders had already squared their August books. With that the August contract limped off the board at $4.693, down 0.7 cents for the session, 60 cents less than July’s settlement and a whopping 72 cents below where it was when it became prompt contract a month ago. At 80,239, estimated volume was extremely low for an expiration day.