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After a bumpy ride early last week marked by double-digit price swings, natural gas futures coasted smoothly into the weekend Thursday and Friday as traders elected to wait until a clearer fundamental and technical picture is available. By failing to break out of Thursday’s 15-cent trading range, the December contract notched a second-straight “inside day” on the daily chart. It finished at $3.248, down 4.2 cents for the session Friday, but up 6.5 cents for the week.

Ending a three-day, 40-cent price advance, natural gas futures sifted lower Tuesday, as trade selling overpowered fund short covering. Negating Monday’s advance with a 12.6-cent decline, the November contract fell throughout the session to close even with Friday’s $2.681 settle.

Despite cries by Republican senators for a stripped-down energy bill because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee said he remains undeterred in his drive to vote out a “balanced and comprehensive energy” bill during this session.

Boosted by higher cash market prices, natural gas futures gappedhigher at the open Monday as traders continued to make up groundlost in the precipitous decline early last week. However, insimilar fashion to last week, January futures ran into heavyoverhead selling, pressuring the market lower for much of thesession. The prompt month finished at $8.527, up 13.1 cents on theday, but off 67.3 cents from its $9.20 opening trade.

Recent declines in natural gas bills would have been evengreater if it hadn’t been for one-time LDC restructuring charges,according to a Gas Research Institute study. Still LDCs have cutnon-gas costs substantially.

Kerr-McGee Corp. last week joined a growing number of productioncompanies, including ARCO, Occidental Petroleum and Unocal, thatare restructuring or reducing work forces because of the depressedoil market. Kerr-McGee said it plans to layoff about 70 workers,reducing its Oklahoma City metropolitan area work force by 7% andits exploration and production company staff by a similar amount.