Remained

Although lows around freezing or lower remained in the forecast for Canada and most of the northern half of the U.S., little of last week’s cold-weather bullishness was left in the cash market Monday. The southern U.S. had turned relatively moderate over the weekend, and only Canada and some northern parts of the U.S. were still due to see extreme lows of around zero, the single digits and teens.

With a great deal of assistance from a futures increase just shy of 30 cents on the preceding Friday, weather forecasts remained cold enough to keep prices rising in virtually all of the cash market Monday.

To no one’s surprise, prices kept falling at most points Monday as weather-based demand remained weak and the previous Friday’s 17.3-cent drop by October futures in their prompt-month debut continued to put negative pressure on the cash market. However, the restoration of industrial load from its usual weekend decline, along with heat in some areas, allowed quite a few scattered points to be flat to nearly C25 cents higher.

Prices continued to fall at all points Friday as weather-based load remained meager, prior-day screen guidance was negative and concerns about near-term storage injection availability mounted. Only the PG&E citygate decline, which was affected by interior Northern California temperatures still forecast to approach 100 during the weekend, was by less than double digits.

Natural gas and crude futures continued to sink on Wednesday as bullish fundamentals for each commodity remained elusive. August natural gas declined by 7.6 cents to close at $3.353 while August crude futures plummeted $2.79 to close at $60.14/bbl.

Some companies saw substantial growth and others saw their numbers fall, but the total volume of natural gas sold in North America in 1Q2009 remained basically flat, falling less than 0.5 Bcf/d from the same period last year, according to NGI’s 1Q2009 Top North American Gas Marketers Ranking.

Some companies saw substantial growth and others saw their numbers fall, but the total volume of natural gas sold in North America in 1Q2009 remained basically flat, falling less than 0.5 Bcf/d from the same period last year, according to NGI’s 1Q2009 Top North American Gas Marketers Ranking.

The number of natural gas market centers in the United States and Canada has remained essentially constant since the late 1990s, but that’s about to change as evolving supply basins and pipeline infrastructure dictate gas shipper needs, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) has found. EIA said six new market centers could be placed in service in the next four to five years.

The number of natural gas market centers in the United States and Canada has remained essentially constant since the late 1990s, but that’s about to change as evolving supply basins and pipeline infrastructure dictate gas shipper needs, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) has found. EIA said six new market centers could be placed in service in the next four to five years.