Regular

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.

One day back above $6 appeared to be enough for the time being as February natural gas futures, in their first regular session prompt-month contract action, slipped back below the psychological price level. Backed by a somewhat moderating weather forecast and the continued economic slump’s impact on demand, the February contract dropped 22.5 cents Tuesday to close at $5.859.

Clean Energy Fuels Corp. announced recently it has started up regular operations at its liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant at Boron, CA, the largest LNG production plant in the Southwest producing vehicle grade fuel and the first large-scale plant in California. At the same time the company is seeing its compressed natural gas (CNG) business expand in the far Southwest.

Clean Energy Fuels Corp. announced recently it has started up regular operations at its liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant at Boron, CA, the largest LNG production plant in the Southwest producing vehicle grade fuel and the first large-scale plant in California. At the same time the company is seeing its compressed natural gas (CNG) business expand in the far Southwest.

Approximately 47.7% of Gulf of Mexico (GOM) gas production is shut in out of normal production of 7.4 Bcf/d, and it is estimated that 58.8% of oil production in the GOM is shut in out of regular production of 1.3 million b/d, Minerals Management Service (MMS) reported Wednesday.

Amidst the malaise of a two-month-old budget impasse as the California legislature ended its regular session during the Labor Day weekend, a bill was passed under the radar allowing the City of Long Beach and the state to renegotiate a deal with locally based Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy) to redrill the 76-year-old Wilmington oilfield near the Port of Long Beach. The bill needs the governor’s action by the end of September.

Amidst the malaise of a two-month-old budget impasse as the California legislature ended its regular session during the Labor Day weekend, a bill was passed under the radar allowing the City of Long Beach and the state to renegotiate a deal with locally based Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy) to redrill the 76-year-old Wilmington oilfield near the Port of Long Beach.

September futures going higher in after-hours activity after posting a regular session gain of 17.5 cents Thursday did not have the cash market-boosting impact that one source had expected. Instead, prices fell at virtually all points Friday due to cooling load being subpar for late August in several areas, traders discounting the possibility of Tropical Storm Fay causing any substantive shut-ins, and the decline of industrial load that accompanies a weekend.

In its first regular front-month session, the June natural gas futures contract on Tuesday took a break from the recent spike to test out lower price values. The contract dipped back below $11 to record a $10.830 low before settling at $10.842, down 48.7 cents from Monday’s close and 43.8 cents lower than May’s expiration.