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Coming off of a week that saw mostly single digit drops or gains, the Nymex May natural gas futures contract jumped out of the box Monday, closing 19.3 cents higher to settle at $5.764. The June contract also went on a run, climbing 21.8 cents to close at $5.871.

Small single-digit advances dominated the market Monday as (1) industrial demand picked up again after the holiday weekend, (2) futures remained supportive of physical prices and (3) a cold front invading the Midwest from Canada late last week had spread southward to Texas and eastward into the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.

A federal warrant was issued Thursday for the arrest of a single suspect identified as being involved in at least one of two incidents of tampering with Western Grid transmission tower footings about 150 miles apart in southeast Oregon and northern California last Monday.

Energy is the “biggest single challenge for the next few decades,” but because fewer graduates are entering the field, the next generation needs to be inspired with a sense of mission to “save the world,” a Nobel Prize winning scientist said Tuesday during a Global Energy Management Institute (GEMI) forum at the University of Houston.

Energy is the “biggest single challenge for the next few decades,” but because fewer graduates are entering the field, the next generation needs to be inspired with a sense of mission to “save the world,” a Nobel Prize winning scientist said Tuesday during a Global Energy Management Institute (GEMI) forum at the University of Houston.

Most points were seeing small, single-digit gains Thursday, but there was also a sprinkling of flat to moderately lower price showings. Prospects for the weekend market were unclear. The slow but steady advance of the most powerful hurricane since 1998 weighed in favor of bullishness, but it was arrayed against both a negative futures reaction to an anticipated big storage injection report and the near-disappearance of air conditioning load outside the desert Southwest and parts of the South.

Wednesday’s swing market was almost a mirror image of the previous day. This time single-digit declines dominated the price table instead of the increases by largely similar amounts recorded on Tuesday. One trader said the mild softness on Wednesday is what he actually had expected for both days.

In a move remarkably similar to the December 2000 rally to $10, natural gas futures accelerated their move higher Monday as cold weather forecasts and double-digit physical prices prompted waves of panic buying at Nymex. After extending past psychological resistance at $7.00 late Sunday night in computer-only Access trading, the March contract exploded to a new 25-month high at $9.20. It closed just off that level at $9.137.

As winter temperatures in the Northeast plunged to single digits, the Senate last Thursday overwhelmingly passed a major omnibus spending bill that, among other things, calls for a $300 million increase in federal assistance to help low-income heating customers pay their utility bills throughout 2003. At the same time, President Bush released additional emergency funds last week to aid the public during the cold snap.