Seemingly

Shale gas basins are responsible for North America’s gas boom, but it’s producer joint ventures (JV) that are in part responsible for the seemingly relentless drilling in a low-price environment. JVs with drilling carries will help support drilling activity, supporting a rig count that will “only fall modestly in 2011,” Barclays Capital analysts said last week.

The cash market wavered on either side of flat Tuesday, seemingly torn between forecasts of colder temperatures in such key market areas as the Midwest and South versus the previous day’s prompt-month futures break below $5 for the first time since December combined with ample storage inventories remaining as the final month of the traditional withdrawal season nears.

The cash market wavered on either side of flat Tuesday, seemingly torn between forecasts of colder temperatures in such key market areas as the Midwest and South versus the previous day’s prompt-month futures break below $5 for the first time since December combined with ample storage inventories remaining as the final month of the traditional withdrawal season nears.

This week’s market started out much like the previous one — with seemingly not enough cold weather overall to justify big price jumps, but traders managed to find enough demand anyway to drive spikes that occasionally reached about a dollar or more Monday.

September natural gas futures briefly rallied Thursday following the release of seemingly supportive inventory data but quickly reversed and ended up in the loss column. September futures fell 14.3 cents to $3.336 and October lost 9.4 cents to $3.673. September crude oil rose 36 cents to $70.52/bbl.

Seemingly unfazed by depressed energy commodity prices and volatility, Sempra Energy senior executives hauled out the superlatives last Tuesday for the company’s joint venture in energy and metals commodity trading, RBS Sempra Commodities, announcing a nearly 100% quarter-over-quarter increase in profits, a new CEO and an integration of its Connecticut-based trading floor into one of North America’s largest operations. Sempra’s leaders made the comments during a first quarter conference call with financial analysts.

Seemingly unfazed by depressed energy commodity prices and volatility, Sempra Energy senior executives hauled out the superlatives Tuesday for its joint venture in energy and metals commodity trading, RBS Sempra Commodities, announcing a nearly 100% quarter-over-quarter increase in profits, a new CEO and an integration of its Connecticut-based trading floor into one of North America’s largest operations. Sempra’s leaders made the comments during a first quarter conference call with financial analysts.

Despite the release of a storage withdrawal that was inline with expectations, April natural gas futures bounded higher Thursday, seemingly on continued strength in the petroleum complex. April natural gas rose 21.9 cents to $10.230, and the May contract rose 22.8 cents to finish at $10.306. April crude oil rose 41 cents to $110.33 after trading as high as $111.00, another record.

Both the cash and futures markets appeared to respond to influences in seemingly illogical ways Thursday. Despite strong prior-day screen support and spreading cold temperatures in northern market areas, cash prices fell at most points. And for the second Thursday in a row, prompt-month futures shrugged off an undeniably bearish storage report to post a strong gain.