Spot

Texas lawmakers are not yet into the meat of their current legislative session, but as with the last session two years ago, the Barnett Shale seems to be drawing the most attention, at least judging by potential legislation, Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO) President Justin Furnace told NGI’s Shale Daily.

A frigid weekend in many sections was becoming a distant memory for many people who thought they had already seen too much winter already. Spot gas demand was dropping, and it was quite possible that more storage supplies were being substituted in its place, resulting in substantial declines in numbers across the board Tuesday.

Forecasts of a plunge of arctic cold from Canada into the U.S. Midwest and Northeast failed to prevent a decline of spot prices at most points Tuesday.

Despite a decline in the survey’s top spot, overall natural gas marketing was up 6.2% year over year. read more

Intense heat in many areas finally appeared to be reviving the spot market, but only to a small degree, Thursday. The previous day’s minor rebound of 2.9 cents by September futures also helped in raising cash prices slightly at most points.

Forecasts of Thursday temperatures near 90 or higher in much of the eastern U.S. and extending into the Rockies still had little effect on boosting spot prices Wednesday. And a potential tropical storm threat to Gulf of Mexico production had faded by late that afternoon.

Forecasts of high temperatures on either side of 90 in many regions and even greater in the South, Midcontinent and parts of the West revived the spot market by generally small amounts Thursday. A tropical wave was still too close to West Africa to be a factor, but the previous day’s 4.8-cent futures drop had essentially no impact as a negative guide for cash prices.

The spot market continued to rely on significant heat levels for early June and prior-day futures strength in rising at all points for a second straight day Friday. Thursday’s report of a slightly below-expectations storage injection, which came out too late to impact most of that day’s cash trading, was an extra impetus for the price gains despite the typically lower industrial load during a weekend period.

After reaching a two-month high for the spot contract on Tuesday at $4.494, the resulting tumble that began Tuesday afternoon spilled over into Wednesday’s regular trading session as June futures plummeted 18.4 cents to close at $4.158.