Somewhat

Spurred higher by somewhat colder temperatures and a spooked crude futures market, February natural gas started Tuesday above $9 and continued higher from there. The prompt month peaked at $9.290 just before settling at $9.168, up 37.7 cents from Friday’s close.

“Why is May masquerading as January?” A source’s somewhat tongue-in-cheek rhetorical question succinctly described why nearly all of the market continued to soften substantially Monday and why a significant rally seems unlikely until the latter half of January — if then.

The House of Representatives, in a somewhat anti-climatic move Thursday, passed a slimmed-down defense appropriations bill that excluded a provision to open Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and natural gas drilling, as well as $2 billion in emergency funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).

Despite a flat futures market Wednesday and a somewhat bearish winter weather forecast by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (see related story), cash prices were generally up 10-60 cents, aside from a few flat locations in the Northeast and Gulf Coast and a massive decline at Northwest South of Green River.

Information about how much damage Hurricane Rita inflicted on Gulf Coast onshore and offshore infrastructure continued to be somewhat of a mystery on Wednesday, with some producers continuing to assess their operations, while others began to restaff platforms. The Henry Hub natural gas delivery point operated by Sabine Pipe Line LLC remained under force majeure for the seventh day in a row because of power outages and flooding. And Chevron Corp. reported its deepwater Typhoon platform was turned upside down in the storm.

With both natural gas and crude inventory reports coming in somewhat bullish, Hurricane Dennis continuing to strengthen in the Caribbean and the apparent terrorist attacks in London causing chaos, traders didn’t know which way to look on Thursday. Despite all of the seemingly bullish news on the day, the natural gas futures market seemed predisposed to drop lower.

Taking somewhat of a break while still holding recent gains, July natural gas futures quietly traded within a slim 12-cent range Tuesday before settling at $7.127, up half of a penny from Monday’s close.

It was no surprise that nearly all points were in rebound mode Monday from weekend softening. But it was somewhat surprising that unlike last week, when Northeast citygates tended to lead price climbs higher and also the subsequent retreats, it was western points (Rockies/Pacific Northwest, Western Canada, California and the Southwest basins) which were in the driver’s seat for this new burst of cash bullishness.

Following a depressed 2004 earnings report earlier in the year, Bellevue, WA-based Puget Energy’s senior management Thursday issued somewhat modest earnings guidance for this year and next, in the $1.30/diluted share to $1.55/diluted share range. The company set an Internet-based webcast for 10 a.m. EST Friday in which the CEO and CFO will discuss the latest estimates (www.pse.com).