Rebounded

After staging a retreat Thursday on the Energy Information Administration’s 5 Bcf injection report for the week ended Nov. 10, December natural gas futures rebounded Friday on reports of some colder weather coming into the U.S. After breaking above the psychological $8 level to put in a $8.250 high on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), the prompt month ended up settling at $8.179, up 42.4 cents on the day and 38.5 cents higher than the previous week’s close.

After the long holiday weekend, natural gas futures rebounded Tuesday, taking back some of last week’s losses. The October contract traded within a 23-cent range between $5.850 and $6.080 before settling at $6.039, up 16.2 cents from last Friday’s close.

Cash prices rebounded by double-digit amounts at all points Monday in response to a surface low-pressure area in the southern Gulf of Mexico moving northward toward the Texas coast and heat levels returning to seasonable levels in the Northeast and Midwest market areas.

Prices rebounded at virtually all points Thursday due to gradually rebuilding cooling load after a midweek cooldown in several areas and strong prior-day screen support.

After tumbling lower for the first three hours of trading, the natural gas futures market rebounded Wednesday as bears failed to press the market down to near-term technical support. The June contract finished the session at $6.606, down 14 cents on the day but above its $6.540 low for the session.

Natural gas cash prices rebounded anywhere from a few cents to more than $1 on Wednesday after buyers came into the market to take advantage of the huge price declines earlier in the week that left the market as much as $3.00-4.60 lower than first-of-the-month indexes.

Most points rebounded strongly Monday as the Gulf Coast supply picture, while improving, remained rather gloomy and pockets of current or approaching cooling and heating load surfaced. A little bit of “storm hype” may also have been a factor, although Tropical Storm Stan was projected to move into southern Mexico without threatening any U.S. energy facilities.

The West rebounded strongly Monday from Friday’s weakness that had been prompted by a weekend OFO and generally mild temperatures. Eastern markets were considerably more laid back after discovering that Tropical Storm Arlene was little more than a minor and short-lived annoyance in the supply picture.

International trade in natural gas grew at a brisk pace in 2004, when Canadian pipeline exports rebounded and tanker landings of offshore supplies surged at a rate described as “explosive” to serve strong demand for imports in the United States, according to the U.S. Energy Department’s (DOE) annual review of gas trade trends.