Return

A return of snow-bearing colder weather in the Rockies caused points there to spike by as much as $1.30 Monday and pushed some regional top-end prices above $6. Milder conditions elsewhere resulted in a mixed market that was mostly close to flat and in which losses moderately exceeded gains.

With the worst of the current cold spell receding to past tense in northern market areas and the South starting to return to more seasonal temperatures for the first half of April, most of Tuesday’s market was mixed and in the vicinity of flat in many cases. Moderate gains appeared to slightly outweigh small losses.

Sparked by natural gas futures gains through Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Northeast and Louisiana points mostly posted single-digit gains Friday, while low gas demand and moderate temperatures allowed most of the market to shed anywhere from a couple of pennies to 83 cents, with the largest drops coming from the Midcontinent and the West.

With the return to seasonal weather, one energy analyst is now estimating that natural gas storage levels will fall below 1,400 Bcf by the end of March. Another is predicting that gas storage will end the season at around 1,493 Bcf, which is 200 Bcf lower than he forecasted only three weeks ago.

Despite some market expectations of a return to storage injections in the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) weekly report Thursday for the week ended Nov. 10, natural gas futures traders on Wednesday once again broke above the psychological $8 level in the December contract. But unlike previous breaks, this one ended up holding as the prompt-month reached a high of $8.180 before settling at $8.120, up 14.3 cents on the day.

The return of industrial load from weekend hiatus did little to stem price losses Monday in most of the cash market. Moderating weather in much of the East and screen weakness extending into its third day Monday dragged a majority of points between a little less than a dime and a half dollar lower.

Looking to return what’s left of clients’ money after losing in excess of $6 billion on wrong-way natural gas bets during September, Amaranth Advisors LLC has hired Fortress Investment Group LLC to help sell its hedge-fund holdings, according to Associated Press reports. As part of the fallout, calls for the regulation of the over-the-counter (OTC) market and of hedge funds continue.

Looking to return what’s left of clients’ money after losing in excess of $6 billion on wrong-way natural gas bets during September, Amaranth Advisors LLC has hired Fortress Investment Group LLC to help sell its hedge-fund holdings, according to Associated Press reports.

The return of industrial demand after a weekend hiatus and modest increases in western cooling load produced a mixed cash market Monday that was dominated by gains of 2-3 cents to a little more than a quarter. Along with several flat points, Monday’s minority losses ran as high as a little more than a quarter.