Trading

Natural gas prices for the first week of the traditional heating season made something of a curious entrance. All but two market points followed by NGI posted losses of about a nickel to a dime outside the Northeast. For the week ended Nov. 6 the NGI Weekly Spot Gas Average plummeted21 cents to $1.95, and whereas for the previous week all regions posted a $2 handle, this week all regions except California and the Midwest posted a $1 handle.

Physical natural gas trading Thursday for Friday delivery was a balanced affair, with modest regional gains nearly offsetting losses and traders making sure they got deals done before the release of Energy Information Administration (EIA) storage data.

The physical natural gas market for next-day deliveries was mostly steady Monday, but futures trading grabbed center stage as traders digested a second round of weather forecasts calling for near-term warmth.

BP plc and state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. on Wednesday agreed to expand their global partnership, which covers potential shale gas exploration in the Sichuan Basin, as well as global liquefied natural gas (LNG) trading opportunities.

Physical natural gas for Tuesday delivery rose sharply in Monday’s trading as traders factored in higher next-day power demand and may have had to balance accounts for shortfalls incurred over the weekend.

Buyers and sellers of physical natural gas for Wednesday delivery by and large drew to a tie in Tuesday’s trading.

With mild temperatures forecast over the weekend and into Monday, traders saw little need to lock in three-day deals with buying and selling physical natural gas for immediate delivery.

It was another lackluster week of natural gas trading as a comfortable late-summer warmth enveloped the country, and for the moment attention is centered on football and other fall activities rather than the vagaries of a winter heating season still to come.

All producing basins and most market points away from the Northeast recorded losses in Thursday’s physical natural gas trading as traders scurried to get trading done before the release of Energy Information Administration (EIA) storage figures.