Summer

October natural gas is expected to open 3 cents higher Monday morning at $3.82 as traders ponder a cool thrust to the nation’s interior along with continued technical weakness. Overnight oil markets fell.

August natural gas is expected to open 3 cents lower Monday morning at $4.12 as traders prepare for an onslaught of cooler temperatures that are expected to impact major eastern and Midwest population centers. Overnight oil markets were mixed.

August natural gas is set to open 10 cents lower Monday morning at $4.31 as traders see nothing on the weather horizon to support near-term prices. Overnight oil markets slumped.

August natural gas is set to open a penny higher Monday morning at $4.42 as market bulls lick their wounds from last week’s 14-cent loss and scour the market landscape for any sign of increased demand. Overnight oil markets fell.

Raymond James & Associates Inc. on Tuesday increased its long-term U.S. natural gas price deck by 25 cents to $4.50/Mcf on concerns that the market is underestimating how difficult it will be to refill storage this year.

Temperatures are expected to average below normal this summer from the Rockies east to the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast United States, according to forecasters at Weather Services International (WSI), a prognostication that could lead to the weakest nationwide cooling demand since 2009.

Both natural gas and electric futures prices will climb this summer, reflecting exceptional gas burn and storage withdrawals during winter 2013-2014, and an ongoing drought in California could affect prices and operations there, according to FERC’s “Summer 2014 Energy Market and Reliability Assessment.”

May natural gas is set to open 3 cents higher Tuesday morning at $4.73 as analysts raise their longer-term price forecasts amid historically low inventories and hefty demand. Overnight oil markets eased.

As state and federal officials last week were assessing the potential for the drought to impact hydroelectric power this summer, California Independent System Operator (CAISO) on Thursday issued a conservation alert because of a shortage of natural gas supplies that underpin much of the state’s power generation.