Rebounded

Sparked by eastern cold and the expectation of significant natural gas storage draws in the near future, March natural gas futures on Thursday rebounded to claim a 10.4-cent gain and closed the regular session at $5.396.

After taking dives a day earlier, Northeast citygates rebounded by fairly substantive amounts Wednesday as blizzard conditions continued to rage from the Mid-Atlantic though southern New England. However, nearly all of the rest of the cash market was flat to nearly 15 cents lower as the wintry weather penetrating a great deal of North America failed to have much impact on most prices.

After taking dives a day earlier, Northeast citygates rebounded by fairly substantive amounts Wednesday as blizzard conditions continued to rage from the Mid-Atlantic though southern New England. However, nearly all of the rest of the cash market was flat to nearly 15 cents lower as the wintry weather penetrating a great deal of North America failed to have much impact on most prices.

Prices rebounded by generally small amounts at most points Tuesday following across-the-board declines a day earlier. Considering Monday’s futures plunge of 27.4 cents, the rally was rather surprising in light of a warm-up into the 70s forecast for the South along with relatively light cooling trends in parts of the Northeast and mixed temperature movement due in the Midwest.

While significantly below year-ago levels, U.S. drilling activity rebounded somewhat in the third quarter, with total well completions up 10.2% from the second quarter, the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported last week. Natural gas activity saw the steepest quarterly decline in 10 years during the third quarter.

While significantly below year-ago levels, U.S. drilling activity rebounded somewhat in the third quarter, with total well completions up 10.2% from the second quarter, the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported.

Coming back from last week’s late sag in values, the cash market rebounded on Monday nearly across the board, backed by the 25.2-cent bounce in November natural gas futures on Friday.

Prices rebounded at all points Monday based largely on the previous Friday’s 32-cent climb by futures and the return of industrial load from its normal weekend drop. Weather-based demand continued to be relatively light.

In a move that baffled some traders, prices rebounded by large amounts across the board Tuesday from the previous day’s overall softness. Since weather-based demand remained relatively meager in most areas, Monday’s prompt-month futures spike of 33.7 cents was about the only solid support that could be found for the cash price strength Tuesday.