Seeing

Denver-based Bill Barrett Corp., whose fortunes are tied to the natural gas transportation system out of its core Rocky Mountain operations, is seeing “improving infrastructure” for both gas and liquids, COO Joe Jaggers told financial analysts Tuesday.

It was no surprise to anyone seeing prices fall by major amounts across the board Friday. Despite modest support from the previous day’s screen rise of 5.7 cents, the lack of weather-based demand and the usual weekend decline of industrial load were a considerable depressant on the cash market.

The market was marginally firmer Wednesday as a significantly greater number of points were seeing small increases than a day before. The rationale for the modest rise in bullishness was elusive, as cooling demand was receding to some extent in the Midcontinent and parts of the South while mostly moderate conditions still dominated the rest of the weather picture. Also, Tuesday’s flat July futures provided no support for cash numbers Wednesday.

After seeing June futures gain 35.2 cents during the previous two regular trading sessions, bullish natural gas traders were forced to cool their heels on Tuesday as the contract ended up dropping 11 cents to close at $3.615.

A pair of weather forecasts issued last week offered differing views of upcoming temperatures in the Northeast, with one saying the region may be seeing an early start to wintry conditions and another predicting a warmer-than-normal November. Both forecasts called for colder-than-average temperatures to dominate the region in December.

A pair of weather forecasts issued Monday offer differing views of upcoming temperatures in the Northeast, with one saying the region may be seeing an early start to wintry conditions and another predicting a warmer-than-normal November. Both forecasts call for colder-than-average temperatures to dominate the region in December.

“Storm hype” just doesn’t seem to have the old price punch it used to. For the second week in a row the industry is seeing prices get substantially softer even as a hurricane heads into the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) production area. To be sure, the fact that the projected track of Hurricane Ike had been shifted more to the south — and thus farther from offshore infrastructure — was a major factor in prices dropping across the board Tuesday.

To absolutely no one’s surprise, cash prices fell at all points but one Thursday. Nearly all were 30 cents or more, with a few Rockies points seeing dollar-plus plunges. The reasons were obvious: receding cooling load in some regions, prior-day screen weakness and the extra loss of industrial load that accompanies a long holiday weekend.

Exploration and production companies are looking to the Marcellus Shale and seeing dollar signs; so are Pennsylvania landowners whose acreage sits atop the shale and its gas reserves.