Storms

With winter storms pounding a number of U.S. regions on Wednesday, natural gas futures in quiet trading recorded their first gain in seven sessions. The January contract traded in a $7.100 to $7.265 range before settling at $7.185, up three pennies from Tuesday’s close.

The storms were too far away to even have names, but their aftermath — an exceptionally snowy winter in northern British Columbia and Alberta — contributed to a slippage in Canadian natural gas supplies.

The storms were too far away to even have names, but their aftermath — an exceptionally snowy winter in northern British Columbia and Alberta — contributed to a slippage in Canadian natural gas supplies.

The Northeast is emerging more slowly than expected from weekend winter storms that snarled air traffic in that region and others. Nevertheless, Northeast citygate prices saw double-digit declines Monday amid overall softness based on forecasts of mild temperatures in nearly all areas this week. Several scattered points managed to buck the trend with numbers that were flat to more than half a dollar higher.

With most of North America under siege from extreme cold and winter storms that caused power outages, disrupted transport to work or school and resulted in numerous flight cancellations, the cash gas market responded with a continuing ascent of prices at nearly all points Wednesday. Several gains were measured in triple digits in the Northeast and Gulf Coast.

Beset by safety problems and still recovering from last year’s Gulf of Mexico storms, BP plc reported in an interim update Wednesday that its 3Q2006 oil and natural gas production year-over-year will be flat and will fall sequentially from 2Q2006 to 3.8 million boe/d from 4.01 million boe/d. Houston-based Marathon Oil Corp., meanwhile, said its quarterly production is in line with forecasts.

Beset by safety problems and still recovering from last year’s Gulf of Mexico storms, BP plc reported in an interim update Wednesday that its 3Q2006 oil and natural gas production year-over-year will be flat and will fall sequentially from 2Q2006 to 3.8 million boe/d from 4.01 million boe/d.

With the continued lack of both a hot summer or threatening storms in the tropics, natural gas futures continued lower on Thursday, breaking below recent long-term support lines. After recording a new low for the move of $5.610, August natural gas went on to close at $5.664, down 10.1 cents on the day.

The Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reported Tuesday 54% of the state’s oil and natural gas wells — or 3,204 out of 5,949 wells– have been restored to production, following the devastating hurricanes and storms that swept through the state three months ago. Another 2,155 wells, or 36.2%, remain shut in, and the status of about 10%, or 590 wells, remains unknown.