Sour

For the first time since the economy turned sour in mid-2008, Canadian natural gas exporters have chalked up a month of across-the-board gains in sales volumes, prices and revenues.

For the first time since the economy turned sour in mid-2008, Canadian natural gas exporters have chalked up a month of across-the-board gains in sales volumes, prices and revenues.

San Diego, CA-based Sempra Energy’s two utilities are the first in California to react to the increasingly sour economy in its headquarters state and nationwide, urging its retail utility customers Wednesday to seek various assistance programs offered by the utilities — Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) and San Diego Gas and Electric Co. (SDG&E).

Energen Corp. on Monday hedged an additional 5 Bcf of its 2006 natural gas production at $7.50/Mcf and 360,000 bbl of its sour oil output at $55.21/bbl, and with the additional uncertainty of price volatility removed, raised its 2006 earnings guidance to a range of $2.55-2.75/diluted share

Northern Border Partners LP announced its intention to enter theCanadian midstream business. The company is buying the 87 MMcf/dMazeppa sour gas processing plant southeast of Calgary and aminority interest in the 85-mile Gregg Lake/Obed Pipeline (150MMcf/d of capacity), which is west of Edmonton, AB, from DynegyCanada. The purchase is expected to close during the first quarter.

Natural gas futures finished on a sour note for bulls Fridayastechnical follow-through selling met with a bearish weather outlookfor this week. The November contract finished at $5.008, down 14.4cents on the day, 17.8 cents lower for the week, and a crushing55.7 cents off its high, reached less than two weeks ago.

Natural gas futures finished on a sour note Wednesday as tradersalleviated overbought conditions and took profits both before andafter the release of fresh storage data. After opening lower, theApril contract worked its way down throughout much of the sessionbefore tumbling at the closing bell to finish at $2.71. The promptmonth’s 8.9-cent decline was trumped only by the May contract,which dropped 9 cents to finish as $2.747. Estimated volume wasmodest with only 63,810 contracts changing hands.

The natural gas futures market tumbled lower last Friday morningwhen a lower open was greeted with steady, unchecked sellingpressure. But after getting caught snoozing early in the day, bullsfought back by bidding up the March contract above $1.80 in choppymidday activity. And by 2:30 in the afternoon many sources feltthat the market would close out the week quietly-right? Wrong-lateposition squaring and market-on-close sell orders had the last sayFriday as they deposited the prompt month contract to its $1.777settle. Estimated volume was 67,482.