Remain

While the January 2012 natural gas futures contract managed to eek out a 3.2-cent gain in Tuesday’s regular session to close at $3.128, bullish traders remain a rare breed as prices are still more than a dollar below where they were one year ago.

With his seventh shale-related joint venture (JV) in hand, Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Aubrey McClendon said Friday the company has plans to take partners in three, maybe more, U.S. leaseholds in 2012. The long-time shale promoter also claimed a leadership position for the company in the new natural gas age.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. plans to sell stakes in at least three more onshore U.S. shale plays, CEO Aubrey McClendon told energy analysts Friday, and at the same time he claimed a leadership position for the company in the new natural gas age.

Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) may be at the center of current debate in states that are experiencing a shale gas boom, but it will remain an important part of the industry and can be performed safely, according to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) may be at the center of current debate in states that are experiencing a shale gas boom, but it will remain an important part of the industry and can be performed safely, according to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

The number of double-digit gains increased Tuesday as a price advance across the board occurred for the second day in a row. Although weather conditions remain generally bearish for gas prices, especially with the Northeast growing even cooler, and tropical storm menaces to offshore production virtually ruled out for the rest of the season, at least the cash market could point to Monday’s 8.1-cent increase by October futures as impetus for maintaining its firming trend.

Hot weather wasn’t much of a factor in Wednesday’s market as forecast peaks in the mid 90s or higher remain confined to parts of South Texas, the desert Southwest and inland California. Otherwise moderate to cool or chilly conditions dominate the rest of the North American outlook.

The natural gas industry is more bullish about the Utica Shale than ever before, but several geologists remain skeptical until more data is publicly available about the play.

The market for on-site generation on an industrial scale will change over the next five years, but natural gas will remain a major factor even though its proportional share of combined heat/power (CHP) systems will decline, according to a report by Colorado-based Pike Research, “Industrial Distributed Generation.”