Trend

With the record levels of rig activity finally realizing an increase in natural gas supply, it is possible if the trend continues to see “a prolonged period of ‘weak’ natural gas prices” in the $2-3 range, according to Thomas Driscoll of Lehman Brothers. Supply growth, the current natural gas storage overhang, and weak demand could also lead to “lackluster” exploration and production share-price performance, the analyst warned.

Natural gas futures traders have, over the course of the last decade, demonstrated the uncanny ability to look past an in-your-face fundamental indicator and focus instead on an obscure technical benchmark or their perception of data yet-to-be-released. Yesterday was a textbook example of the latter being played out as traders ignored another hefty storage injection to focus instead on their expectations of next week’s release. This was evident in the market’s price action late yesterday afternoon as the August contract rebounded from its pre-AGA lows to finish with a 6-cent gain at $3.342.

Bucking the overall trend in Canada of little to no progress on the electric competition front, Alberta and Ontario earned high marks in a recently released report issued by the Center for the Advancement of Energy Markets (CAEM).

Bucking the overall trend in Canada of little to no progress on the electric competition front, Alberta and Ontario earned high marks in a recently released report issued by the Center for the Advancement of Energy Markets (CAEM).

Bucking the current trend of building natural gas-fueled power plants, Reliant Energy Seward LLC — a unit of the Reliant Energy Wholesale Group — reported that it has plans in the works to build a power generating facility in western Pennsylvania that will use the latest clean-coal technology on waste coal.

Bucking the current trend of building natural gas-fueled powerplants, Reliant Energy Seward LLC — a unit of the Reliant EnergyWholesale Group — reported that it has plans in the works tobuild a power generating facility in western Pennsylvania that willuse the latest clean-coal technology on waste coal.

In a last ditch effort to keep prices above the longterm trendline, bulls in the gas pit at Nymex battled back yesterday,propelling April prices higher throughout the morning hours. As itturns out, that buying pressure would not be tested, and from thatpoint forward prices chopped sideways throughout the afternoon.With that, the April 2001 contract concluded its first session asprompt month with a neat, 18.2-cent gain to finish at $5.279.

While the rest of the country resumed the softening trendyesterday with price drops of 40-50 cents, California returned tothe stratosphere with increases from weekend levels approaching $5and averages hovering around $19-$20/MMBtu.

Bucking the tech trend, five-year-old electronic trader AltraEnergy Technologies Inc., coming off a year of trading and revenueincreases, expects to make it into the black in this first quarterof 2001.