Tended

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) in its Annual Energy Outlook (AEO) reports has tended to underestimate natural gas production and growth, and consequently overestimate net gas imports as well, the agency said in a report issued Friday.

The cash market recorded a mix of gains and losses Tuesday, but bulls were slightly in the ascendancy as flat to higher numbers tended to be both more numerous and have larger increases than the falling ones, all of which were in single digits.

Prices again showed little change from flat in a large majority of cases Thursday, but this time they tended to be mostly a little higher instead of the other way around as on the day before. Although some regions will see slightly warmer weather over the next couple of days or so, crisp and cool fall conditions appear to be pretty well established by now.

Prices were up at nearly all points Wednesday, and many of the gains tended to be a bit larger than the ones that were generally limited to 2-3 cents or so a day earlier.

Activity in natural gas shale plays has tended to heat up fast, especially when producers get a whiff of liquids-rich gas. Besides buying up acreage, producers are committing to gathering, processing and transportation services, and buyer’s remorse can result from moving too fast, a Range Resources executive warned recently.

Most of the cash market varied little from flat Friday, but modest softness in the West tended to be barely more plentiful than small gains at eastern points. Moderately warmer temperatures were returning in the South, Northeast and Midwest, and cooling trends in the Rockies and desert Southwest were resulting in little cooling load remaining at western trading points.

Gains tended to be smaller than those on Friday, but they still occurred again at all points Monday. Although high temperatures are receding to less than 80 degrees in Canada and much of the northern U.S., they will still be reaching the low to high 90s area in the South and Midcontinent Tuesday and surpassing the century mark in parts of the desert Southwest.

Mixed price movement was back in vogue Wednesday in trading for first-of-November flows. Market-area weather trends tended to dictate where gains or losses occurred in some cases, but there were also some anomalies. The cash market continued to have a little prior-day screen support from Tuesday’s 4.7-cent advance by December futures.

Prices were mixed in Wednesday’s resumption of trading after a four-day holiday weekend, but generally tended to be stronger in the Midcontinent and West and weaker in the Gulf Coast and Northeast. Rains were dampening power generation load from New Mexico and Texas through the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, and below normal temperatures in several other areas left the desert Southwest as the only remaining repository of high heat levels.