Seasoned

San Francisco-based Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) said last Thursday it has hired a seasoned senior executive to run a realigned natural gas organization following the announcement that it obtained a decision from state regulators on its settlement in a $1 billion general rate case. In a busy week, the huge combination utility also began closely watched pressure testing of its natural gas transmission pipeline system.

According to a seasoned gas trader and analyst, natural gas prices will have some difficult times in the upcoming late summer and fall period. With expected low shoulder month demand, accompanied by abundant supplies, something has to give.

In a stunning show of bearishness that had even the most seasoned traders shaking their heads, natural gas futures continued lower Friday as sellers demoted prices to new 13-month lows. A gap lower opening set the tone of the session, and bulls were never able to recover. The August contract spent most of the day trading near its $3.055 low, closing 18.4 cents weaker at $3.096.

With a twist of irony that made even the most seasoned traders shake their heads, natural gas futures rebounded strongly yesterday afternoon, just moments after fresh storage data was released showing that the year-on-year storage deficit has finally been eliminated. With that the market broke a string of seven-straight Wednesday losses as traders propelled the new prompt month July contract up 17.1 cents to close at $3.981.

In a frenetic trading session that had even the most seasonedtraders on their toes, gas futures gapped higher on the open onlyto crumble lower in two distinct selling waves yesterday. Incontrast to Wednesday session that saw almost uniform increases,Thursday’s price action for the 12-month strip was inconsistent,with losses in the out months outpacing the 7.7-cent declineregistered in the prompt month. The March contract finished at$6.158.

Even the most seasoned commercial gas futures trader is no matchfor the speculator these days. These little known futures playerswith no physical presence in the market have shown a real knack fortriggering major market moves and making big profits. They have agreat track record of buying futures at the market lows and sellingat the highs, while the commercial traders historically havestumbled into their buys near the top of price increases andmistakenly sold near the bottoms – “exactly the opposite way totrade if you want to make any money,” noted Susannah Hardesty ofEnergy Research and Trading Inc.

Even the most seasoned commercial gas futures trader is no matchfor the speculator these days. These little known futures playerswith no physical presence in the market have shown a real knack fortriggering major market moves and making big profits. They have agreat track record of buying futures at the market lows and sellingat the highs, while the commercial traders historically havestumbled into their buys near the top of price increases andmistakenly sold near the bottoms – “exactly the opposite way totrade if you want to make any money,” noted Susannah Hardesty ofEnergy Research and Trading Inc.