Rises

As tropical depression six fizzled into a tropical wave with slim chances of revival, so did any hope for a gas futures market reversal. The August contract quickly resumed its downward course in overnight trading, and sailed right down through $5 Tuesday morning to a low of $4.84. The contract ended the day down 23.9 cents at $4.868, just a few cents above its daily low. Its daily high of $5.040 was reached just after the opening bell.

EIA’s report of a 93 Bcf weekly gas storage injection was in line with expectations, but futures traders apparently looked ahead to next week’s storage report which could feature a much lower number because of the Gulf production shut ins this week. Futures went off the board at $5.050, and eastern cash prices fell only about 3-8 cents on average. Western cash, however, once again showed strength, posting mainly nickel gains.

As on the preceding Friday, price movement divided roughly on geographical lines again Monday. But this time it was western points seeing mostly strength, while the East turned in a mixed performance with only few points varying much more than a nickel up or down from flat.

Reaping the benefits of its C$2.3 billion purchase of Rio Alto Exploration Ltd. in May, Canadian Natural Resources, Canada’s second largest producer, reported a 54% increase in natural gas production to 1.43 Bcf/d and a 44% increase in earnings in the third quarter to C$117 million or C86 cents/share.

Reaping the benefits of its C$2.3 billion purchase of Rio Alto Exploration Ltd. in May (see Daily GPI, May 14), Canadian Natural Resources, Canada’s second largest producer, reported a 54% increase in natural gas production to 1.43 Bcf/d and a 44% increase in earnings in the third quarter to C$117 million or C86 cents/share.

While many energy companies have been cowering behind ugly third quarter financial results, Entergy Corp. on Wednesday stood out in the crowd with substantially higher earnings. In fact, operational earnings per share were up 21%, setting a new company record for third quarter.

Cash prices were mixed on Thursday with most points up or down a few cents but many sources had bearish expectations for Friday because of the 9-cent drop in November futures on Nymex and an apparently bearish storage report.

As Gulf of Mexico producers played the waiting game with what was then still Tropical Storm Isidore, nearly all points were united in upward movement Thursday, with flatness at El Paso-Permian and a few Northeast citygates as the exception. Especially in the East, gains were considerably smaller than Wednesday’s spikes; the overall range Thursday tended to be from about a nickel to 15 cents.

September natural gas futures spiked all the way up to $2.80 from $2.67 in about five minutes Thursday morning after the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a 33 Bcf storage injection, which was well below most expectations (centered on 45-50 Bcf). EIA also issued a downward revision for its data from the previous week. Despite the bullish news, however, the September contract managed only an 8.5-cent gain for the day and closed at Tuesday’s high of $2.745, leaving some observers unconvinced that the downtrend is over. October gained 8 cents, ending the day at $2.784 and the winter strip rose 5.7 cents to $3.46.