Temporarily

The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) on Monday said its decision to temporarily ban new permits for natural gas drilling in the watershed has been extended to cover “exploratory” wells.

After working down toward $4 in early Thursday trading, June natural gas futures were temporarily buoyed after the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that 76 Bcf was injected into underground storage for the week ending May 14. The prompt-month contract finished the day at $4.106, down 5.2 cents from Wednesday’s regular session close.

Analysts see the natural gas market temporarily stymied by the holiday season and end-of-the-year book squaring. Once trading rosters are up to pre-holiday levels, price movements will have more significance, they say. Holidays or not, January futures shed 11.3 cents to $5.669 Monday and February dropped 11.7 cents to $5.712. The expiring January crude oil contract fell 89 cents to $72.47/bbl.

A proposal adopt an ordinance to temporarily suspend natural gas drilling permits in Flower Mound, TX, which is in the Barnett Shale region, was denied Thursday night by the town council in a 3-2 vote.

Intermountain Gas Co. has asked the Idaho Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to temporarily interrupt service to its customers using natural gas-fired snow-melting equipment during times when natural gas demand is peaking. The utility did not specify how many of its current 305,000 retail gas utility customers potentially could be affected.

After pausing for fresh natural gas inventory news, traders returned pressure temporarily to the upside in natural gas futures Thursday following word that a smaller-than-expected 66 Bcf was injected into underground storage for the week ending Sept. 11. However, the rally gave out after reaching a five-week high of $3.900 as the October contract collapsed to close out the regular session at $3.458, down 30.2 cents from Wednesday’s finish.

Natural gas futures knee-jerked higher Thursday morning temporarily after the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported the first nontriple-digit storage build in six weeks. Thursday proved to be a streak-breaker in more than one way as the July contract ended up closing 8.3 cents higher at $3.844, halting the consecutive down-day trend at five.

A smaller than expected natural gas storage injection teamed with continued crude futures strength to spring July natural gas futures above $4 temporarily on Thursday. After recording a high of $4.067 just after 1 p.m. EDT, the prompt-month contract ended up closing the day’s regular session up 22.5 cents from Wednesday’s finish at $3.933, while July crude futures topped out north of $73/bbl before coming to rest at $72.68/bbl, up $1.35 from Wednesday.

In a decision cheered by conservationists as a turning point in their direction, EnCana Corp. has been barred at least temporarily from drilling in a spot that was a cornerstone of its growth into Canada’s top natural gas producer for 34 years.