Surging

September natural gas slipped lower Monday in lackluster trading as natural gas failed to hitch its wagon to surging equity and oil prices and managed funds align on the short side of the market. At the close September had fallen 3.6 cents to $4.024 and October had eased 3.2 cents to $4.039. September crude oil jumped $2.50 to $87.88/bbl. and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 214 points to 11,483.

In the midst of a global climate change strategy among policymakers, the demand for fossil fuels is surging, which in turn is impacting the deployment of clean energy technologies, according to a report released Wednesday at the second Clean Energy Ministerial in Abu Dhabi.

Energy traders were blindsided Friday as the surging prices across the board on Thursday transformed into even larger losses to finish the week. After a two-day stay north of $8, September natural gas futures plunged below the psychological support level, recording a new low for the down move of $7.768 before closing at $7.843, down 40.9 cents on the day and 24.9 cents lower than the previous week’s finish.

With storage building and natural gas prices no longer surging, Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. Inc. (FBR) joined a growing chorus of energy analysts in trimming its forecast for U.S. gas prices for the next two years to reflect the “impending flood of shale gas.”

More than enough natural gas is surging through pipelines and into storage today and barring any weather disruptions, prices should “significantly come down by the end of the year and stay down,” the CEO of Bentek Energy LLC said Friday. However, the gas supply/demand picture remains a “vicious cycle,” and another price spike will surely follow — and sooner than some might think.

More than enough natural gas is surging through pipelines and into storage today and barring any weather disruptions, prices should “significantly come down by the end of the year and stay down,” the CEO of Bentek Energy LLC said Friday. However, the gas supply/demand picture remains a “vicious cycle,” and another price spike will surely follow — and sooner than some might think.

Building on the downward momentum created Thursday with a stout natural gas storage injection and flying in the face of surging crude prices, June natural gas futures on Friday threatened to break below $11 as the contract plunged lower. The prompt-month contract recorded a low of $11.080 before inching higher to close at $11.094, down 30.5 cents from Thursday and 44.3 cents lower than the previous week’s finish.

Backed by cold forecasts for the rest of February and surging petroleum prices, the March natural gas futures contract continued their recent impressive show of strength Wednesday by reaching a high of $9.110 on the day before retreating. The prompt-month contract recorded a low of $8.910 before settling at $8.965, down 1.2 cents from Tuesday’s close.

Natural gas originating in Texas and flowing to other states via interstate pipelines increased to a record high 10 Bcf/d during the weekend of Dec. 8-9, mostly because of the surging output from the Barnett Shale and East Texas producing basins, according to a report by Golden, CO-based energy consultant Bentek LLC. Texas gas exports jumped 26% compared with the same period a year ago.