Solidly

May natural gas futures opened higher Monday but quickly tumbled nearly 20 cents to land solidly in the loss column, as falling oil markets were able to tug natural gas lower. At the close May was off by 6.6 cents to $4.138 and June had declined 7.4 cents to $4.190. May crude oil swan-dived $2.54 to $107.12/bbl.

Colorado voters “solidly” back drilling on the natural gas-rich Roan Plateau, a statewide poll has found.

Colorado voters “solidly” back drilling on the natural gas-rich Roan Plateau, a statewide poll has found.

Prices rallied solidly across the West Monday, but the market was clearly a mixed bag in the East, although eastern gains tended to slightly outweigh losses. More heating load was starting to show up in some regions, particularly the Midwest, and Monday’s spot prices also derived support from the screen’s 33.2-cent spike on Friday.

While market liquidity declined, which corresponded to a decline in use of risk management tools, energy markets managed serious challenges and made marginal improvements during the period spanning from January 2002 through June 2003, according to FERC’s second annual “State of the Energy Markets” report.

After solidly predicting the Arctic cold front that has frozen New England (see NGI, Jan. 12), Joe Bastardi, senior meteorologist for AccuWeather.com, said last week that the region is not out of the woods yet.

While market liquidity declined, which corresponded to a decline in use of risk management tools, energy markets managed serious challenges and made marginal improvements during the period spanning from January 2002 through June 2003, according to FERC’s second annual “State of the Energy Markets” report.

Northeast citygates were solidly topping $6 Monday while those in the Midwest edged their way above $5 in a continuing show of strength by the cash market. Only the Rockies lagged behind with minuscule gains, while the rest of the market measured its advance in double digits that exceeded 20 cents in most cases and approached a dollar at Transco Zone 6-New York City.

Punctuated by a 5-cent free-fall in the last five minutes of trading, natural gas futures slumped lower yesterday as traders priced yet-to-be-released storage data — guilty of being bearish, until proven innocent — into the market. With that the September contract concluded its penultimate trading day with a 12.9-cent loss to close at $2.415.