Remaining

There was still a pretty large amount of heating load remaining Monday, but the relative overall moderation from last week allowed prices to plunge by large amounts at all points. Northeast citygates, which had constituted the only stronger market area Friday, led the descent with multi-dollar dives; Transco’s two Zone 6 pools fell by about $6 or a little less.

Despite an abundance of heating load remaining through the weekend in many areas, traders looked beyond that to expected warming trends beginning early this week in sending prices much lower Friday, in many cases by dollar-plus amounts. Of course, the previous day’s 20.3-cent dive by February futures and the usual weekend loss of industrial load also contributed to the cash bearishness.

With forecasts of Florida temperatures remaining in the low 90s, Florida Gas Transmission extended an Overage Alert Day for market-area customers into its third day Thursday but loosened the tolerance for negative daily imbalances from 20% to 25%.

October natural gas futures exploded higher once again on Wednesday, and with the bearish fundamental picture remaining unchanged, market participants were attempting to identify a catalyst. While some were convinced that the recent activities of the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) played a role, others saw the extended rally as nothing more than a wave of fund short-covering.

Funding for Anadarko Petroleum Corp.’s Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and international exploration projects is secure, but with natural gas prices remaining low, the company now favors short-cycle investment opportunities in the U.S. onshore where there are “compelling economics,” like those in the Marcellus Shale, CEO Jim Hackett said last week.

Funding for Anadarko Petroleum Corp.’s Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and international exploration projects is secure, but with natural gas prices remaining low, the company now favors short-cycle investment opportunities in the U.S. onshore where there are “compelling economics,” like those in the Marcellus Shale, CEO Jim Hackett said Tuesday.

With consumption expected to decline by 2.3% this year and inventories remaining well above five-year averages, the monthly average Henry Hub natural gas spot price is expected to remain below $4/Mcf until late in the year, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its Short-Term Energy Outlook for July.

FERC last Monday approved a second extension of a temporary waiver of the agency’s capacity-release rules so remaining issues related to Barclays Bank PLC’s acquisition of UBS’ natural gas trading portfolio can be addressed.

The United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) announced in an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday that as of Tuesday, July 7, it had issued all of its remaining limited partner units to the investing public. As a result, the fund “will temporarily suspend the issuance of additional creation baskets,” or limited partner units, until the SEC approves UNG’s recent shelf filing.