Trading

Most physical traders on Thursday made a point of getting their deals done prior to the release of weekly natural gas storage data from the Energy Information Administration. Overall, the market for Friday gas gained a penny to $2.36.

Most physical traders on Thursday made a point of getting their deals done prior to the release of weekly natural gas storage data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Overall, the market for Friday gas gained a penny to $2.36.

Nine years after the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) inked an agreement with CME Group’s Chicago Mercantile Exchange to offer side-by-side trading of its products on the open outcry floor and on CME’s Globex electronic exchange, CME Group, which ended up acquiring Nymex in 2008, said late Tuesday it will close most of its floor futures trading pits — including natural gas — in Chicago and New York by July 2.

January natural gas is expected to open unchanged Tuesday morning at $3.72 as traders balance weather forecasts and a weakening technical outlook amid indications of a cold incursion next week. Overnight oil markets continued to implode.

November natural gas is set to open 3 cents lower Friday morning at $3.77 as traders see little in the way of supportive weather developments and envision the market trading at the low end of its ongoing trading range. Overnight oil markets recovered somewhat from recent selling.

November natural gas is expected to open a penny lower Tuesday morning at $3.91 as traders study ways to deal with a market that for the moment has no appreciable trend. Overnight oil markets resumed their plunge.

The “Texas team” of BP’s Southeast gas trading desk engaged in next-day fixed-price natural gas trading at the Houston Ship Channel (HSC) in 2008 in order to benefit its HSC-to-Henry Hub spread position tied to the index, according to testimony by industry analysts filed at FERC Monday by the agency’s Office of Enforcement (OE) staff.

August natural gas is expected to open 4 cents higher Wednesday morning at $3.81 in spite of a tweak cooler to longer-term forecasts. Overnight oil markets were narrowly mixed.

Natural gas production is increasing while natural gas trading activity is declining, according to recent reports from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.