Rising

Although several eastern points managed to keep rising Friday, a solid majority of the market was softer as the Houston area braced for what was expected to be a direct strike by Hurricane Ike. Offshore production outages rose by small amounts, but low demand based on generally moderate to cool weather negated the cumulative supply losses to some extent. The weekend decline of industrial load added to the overall bearish mood.

Getting a boost from the prior-day futures advance of 12.6 cents and mild support from slowly rising cooling load in eastern sections of the South, most of the cash market recorded gains Thursday. A large majority of them were small, but Rockies and El Paso’s San Juan-Bondad pool saw much larger upticks.

With quarterly exploration and production (E&P) profits more than doubling and midstream income rising 17.5% from a year ago, Williams has boosted its 2008 earnings guidance for the second time in less than two months.

With quarterly exploration and production (E&P) profits more than doubling and midstream income rising 17.5% from a year ago, Williams has boosted its 2008 earnings guidance for the second time in less than two months.

Several points were able to rebound Monday from Friday’s across the board plunges based on rising heat levels in much of the East and the return of industrial load from its usual weekend timeout, but for the most part cash prices continued to move lower due to cooling load remaining fairly moderate in northern market areas and the screen’s 23.9-cent decline on Friday, which capped a full trading week of losses for the August natural gas contract.

Flat quotes at four points were the only exceptions to rising prices in the rest of the cash market Tuesday. The previous day’s 5.5-cent gain by August futures may have helped stimulate the rally to some extent, but it’s likely that forecasts of Wednesday peak temperatures from the 80s through the 100s in nearly the entire U.S. played a greater role.

Noting that Spokane, WA-based Avista Utilities has filed for electricity and natural gas rate hikes due to rising wholesale costs, the staff of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission (PUC) will present workshops in Moscow and Coeur d’Alene, ID, on July 23 and 24, respectively, to explain the request and receive comments from northern Idaho customers.

Noting that Spokane, WA-based Avista Utilities has filed for electricity and natural gas rate hikes due to rising wholesale costs, the staff of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission (PUC) will present workshops in Moscow and Coeur d’Alene, ID, on July 23 and 24, respectively, to explain the request and receive comments from northern Idaho customers.

Bolstered by a prior-day futures gain of a little more than a quarter and gradually rising cooling load, cash prices moved higher at all points Thursday. But a sharp screen reversal and the typical decline of industrial load over a weekend may make it tough for the spot market to continue its climb Friday.