Traded

June natural gas futures traded in an extremely tight 12-cent range Wednesday, further highlighting the market’s recent directionless pattern. Trading between $7.610 to $7.730, the prompt month ended up closing 8.3 cents higher at $7.720, breaking the week’s two-day string of lower closes.

May natural gas futures traded within a slim range for the second consecutive session on Friday before closing at $7.801, down 12.3 cents on the day but 19.4 cents higher than the previous week’s close on Thursday April 5.

BP Energy Co.’s ability to market natural gas in the western United States has improved with the completion of its acquisition of Salt Lake City-based marketer Wasatch Energy LLC. The acquisition was announced in December (see NGI, Dec. 25, 2006). The deal, for an undisclosed amount, gives BP Energy all of Wasatch’s natural gas business and assets, including commercial and industrial sales contracts and producer services contracts. Wasatch’s 42 employees also were offered the opportunity to transfer to BP Energy. Wasatch has a portfolio of 350,000 MMBtu/d of gas purchase, transportation and sales activity across 10 western states that serve about 500 commercial and industrial customers and 100 producers. Its sales offices are located in New Mexico, Colorado, Washington, and California.

Even though the market was forced to digest a rather bullish 2007 Atlantic hurricane forecast on Tuesday, May natural gas traded to a low of $7.390 on the day before finishing up the regular session at $7.426, down 24.5 cents from Monday’s close.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) have traded so many barbs in their dueling pursuit of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) that they could make markets in boasts, brickbats and business bromides.

Starting the week with more of a whimper than a bang, April natural gas futures on Monday traded within an anemic 6-cent range between $6.820 and $6.880 before settling at $6.847, down 7.7 cents for the day. While activity in natural gas ring was muted, the front spread in crude futures continued to widen to eye-opening levels.

Finishing the week with a sub-$7 handle, April natural gas futures traded a slim 9.5-cent range Friday before finishing the week at $6.924, down 3.5 cents on the day and 15.9 cents lower than the previous Friday’s close.

Taking a trading path similar to the one seen last Friday, April natural gas futures traded a slim 14.5-cent range during Monday’s regular trading session before settling at $7.254, up 1.1 cents on the day. Trading on Globex prior to the regular session also featured another failed attempt at breaching support down near $7.100.

As weather forecasts remained chilly, traders on Tuesday conceded weather-driven natural gas futures price momentum to the bulls as the February contract traded higher for a fourth consecutive session. After carving out a high of $7.600, the prompt month settled at $7.597, up 27.8 cents on the day and $1.363 higher than last Wednesday’s $6.234 close.