Threatening

The rush to drill for oil and natural gas in five Rocky Mountain states is threatening endangered species and is locking out hunters and fisherman from western lands, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and National Wildlife Federation (NWF) said in a report Wednesday. Their report further claimed that the amount of natural gas produced from the region has been “modest,” and not enough to justify “runaway drilling.”

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.

Twenty members of the House Florida delegation have written a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) threatening to vote against a fiscal year 2007 Interior Department spending bill if a controversial proposal repealing the congressional ban on natural gas drilling on much of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) is not removed from the measure.

As both Tropical Storm Franklin and Tropical Depression Gert looked significantly less threatening to Gulf production on Monday, August natural gas futures continued to explore the lower reaches of the $7-8 range.

With Hurricane Emily’s path looking less threatening to a majority of Gulf of Mexico production, August natural gas futures on Monday probed the downside, trading as low as $7.560 before settling at $7.652, down 19.7 cents from Friday.

With Hurricane Ivan now seriously threatening Gulf of Mexico production, natural gas futures jumped off the charts Monday morning in preparation for the possibility of prolonged natural gas and oil rig shut-ins.

After threatening for most of the morning to punch below the $6 mark, August natural gas futures rebounded from near its previous $6.025 low to settle at $6.155, up 3.7 cents on the day.

With natural gas futures bouncing around $6s and even threatening to break the psychological $7 mark, many market watchers are wondering why prices remain elevated despite comfortable storage levels and near record rig counts.

With natural gas futures now in the high $6s and even threatening to break the psychological $7 mark, many market watchers are wondering why prices continue to elevate despite comfortable storage levels and near record rig counts.