Slip

Excluding the big weather-derived drops at eastern points, physical natural gas fell about 6.5 cents on Monday, a little more than the slip-sliding futures. At the close of futures trading March had fallen 4.6 cents to $2.431 and April had given up 3.6 cents to $2.620. March crude oil jumped $2.24 to $100.91/bbl.

Except for flat to slightly higher numbers in Western Canada and El Paso’s Bondad pool, prices continued to slip at nearly all points Friday. Cooling load remained fairly high throughout most of the southern third of the U.S., but that was overcome by forecasts of little more than warm weather in northern market areas, the previous day’s drop of 6.8 cents by September futures and the usual weekend decline of industrial demand.

Cash traders on Wednesday watched most delivery point averages across the country slip by a few pennies to nearly 40 cents, but afternoon news of a pipeline-impacting explosion in the Gulf of Mexico could rattle some cages on Thursday.

The new Canadian natural gas export year is off to a weak start, with volumes continuing to slip as reduced prices slow supply development, according to trade records kept by the National Energy Board (NEB).

The new Canadian natural gas export year is off to a weak start, with volumes continuing to slip as reduced prices slow supply development, according to trade records kept by the National Energy Board (NEB).

While falling well short of historical withdrawals for the week ended Jan. 14, the 110 Bcf withdrawal announced Friday by the Energy Information Administration was just high enough to beat out the industry consensus of a 105 Bcf withdrawal.

Coming in slightly below most expectations, the Energy Information Administration reported that 26 Bcf was injected into underground natural gas storage for the week ended Oct. 22. Despite the moderately bullish injection, it appeared that natural gas futures had either already factored such a build into the market prior to the release or just ignored the news because storage is currently “full.”

Coming in slightly below most expectations, the Energy Information Administration reported that 26 Bcf was injected into underground natural gas storage for the week ended Oct. 22. Despite the moderately bullish injection, it appeared that natural gas futures had either already factored such a build into the market prior to the release or just ignored the news because storage is currently “full.”

Quarterly utility earnings are expected to be weak for both gas and electric companies except for those with significant oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) operations or energy marketing and trading that could have benefited from high and volatile commodity prices, according to analysts at Merrill Lynch.