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September natural gas futures managed to stage a modest advance as traders cited technical studies showing the likelihood of a near-term advance, and traders sensed a market well bid at lower levels. September natural gas rose 4.7 cents to $8.773 and October futures added 3.5 cents to $8.855. September crude oil slipped 59 cents to $118.58/bbl.

Natural gas bears weren’t spooked by the release of government inventory data showing additions to supplies that were slightly less than anticipated.

Plummeting crude values, a near-term reduction in weather-related demand, a strong showing from the U.S. dollar and less risk from Hurricane Bertha combined on Tuesday to help August natural gas futures record its second consecutive day of a 60-cent decline. The prompt-month contract recorded a late regular session low of $12.355 before closing out the day at $12.368, down 60.9 cents from Monday’s finish.

Responding to the skyrocketing energy prices of the last several months, some of the larger global industrials began showing the strain last week as they announced price hikes across their entire product lines. Just one day after Dow Chemical Corp. reported product price hikes due to higher commodity, feedstock and transportation costs, Huntsman Corp. followed suit.

The market was showing more weakness Friday than it had all week, but rising points still outnumbered falling ones by approximately two to one. A potent winter storm was leaving the western end of the South behind and targeting the entire East Coast for the weekend, which supported Gulf Coast and Northeast gains. But warming trends caused most points in the Midcontinent and West to drop.

Cash market trading was mixed once again on Thursday, but most regions were showing more declines than gains as weather continued to moderate in major metropolitan centers. Traders were more concerned on the day with the “interesting bidweek schedule” for January, which spans two holidays.

El Paso Corp. strutted its stuff Tuesday, showing off the results of a total body makeover that turned the once bloated and debt-ridden company into a buff earnings performer.

Showing that the natural gas futures market’s direction is just as confused as most people think, the July contract on Wednesday gave back the exact same 7.4 cents that it increased by on Tuesday to close at $7.608, which by no coincidence is also where the contract settled at on Monday.

Most of the 250 citizens and elected officials showing up Wednesday night at a U.S. Coast Guard hearing on BHP Billiton’s proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal offshore Southern California opposed the project on safety and environmental grounds, according to a report in Thursday’s Los Angeles Times. But there were supporters who cited various state assessments that California needs new sources of natural gas.