Recording

Despite recording oil and natural gas production increases from 2Q2008 to 2Q2009, lower commodity prices forced exploration and production giant Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy) to record a 70% decrease in net income from one period to the next. Production levels for the company look like they will remain robust, especially after the company last week announced that it had made a “significant” discovery of oil and gas reserves in Kern County, CA.

Despite recording oil and natural gas production increases from 2Q2008 to 2Q2009, lower commodity prices forced exploration and production giant Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy) to record a 70% decrease in net income from one period to the next.

Recording their fourth consecutive close lower on Tuesday on a streak of follow-through selling, July natural gas futures dismissed the surge of strength in the neighboring crude futures arena to close at $3.879, down 5.4 cents from Monday’s finish.

As a marketer had anticipated a day earlier, cash prices capped a week of solid advances Friday by recording increases throughout the market. A bit of extra chill was due in the Midwest and Rockies over the weekend, but otherwise forecasts remained about as benign for gas demand as they were earlier in the week. Industrial load’s weekend decline obviously had little impact.

The market could claim marginal increases in cooling load in the South as more sections of the region were forecast to start recording highs in the mid 80s or so Thursday. Nevertheless, fundamental underpinnings of this week’s rally were still difficult to detect Wednesday even as overall firmness remained prevalent.

Recording their second consecutive volatile reaction to a natural gas storage report (see Daily GPI, April 3), May natural gas futures on Thursday morning traded violently up and down surrounding the news that 20 Bcf was injected into underground inventories for the week ending April 3. Following the two-minute mayhem, the prompt-month contract resolved lower before closing the session at $3.610, down only two pennies from Wednesday’s finish but 19.1 cents lower than the previous week’s finish.

After putting in a high of $6.232 in Tuesday morning trade, February natural gas futures slunk lower for the remainder of the regular session, recording a low of $5.865 before settling at $5.983, down 8.9 cents from Monday’s finish. Despite the decline, some market experts said the lows could already be in and that bulls could finally be coming to power with the support of colder weather and larger gas storage withdrawals.

Third quarter earnings for commodity exchange heavyweights and rivals IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (ICE) and CME Group Inc. read like A Tale of Two Cities with ICE recording a 12% jump and CME Group posting a 16% drop in net incomes when compared to the companies’ respective 3Q2007 results. Likewise, ICE says it saw trading volumes rise in 3Q2008 over 3Q2007, while CME Group reported a small decline.

Third quarter earnings for commodity exchange heavyweights and rivals IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (ICE) and CME Group Inc. read like A Tale of Two Cities with ICE recording a 12% jump and CME Group posting a 16% drop in net incomes when compared to the companies’ respective 3Q2007 results. Likewise, ICE says it saw trading volumes rise in 3Q2008 over 3Q2007, while CME Group reported a small decline.