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Continuing the trend of back-and-forth swings ahead of expiration Wednesday, August natural gas futures, unable to ignore Thursday’s economic rebound and the recent strength in other energy commodities, climbed 14.5 cents during Friday’s regular session to close at $3.695, 2.6 cents higher than the previous week’s finish.

With bulls unable to latch on to any real supportive fundamentals other than some pockets of hot temperatures in Texas, the South and the West, August natural gas futures continued plumbing the downside on Tuesday. The front-month contract put in a low of $3.798 in morning trade before closing the regular session at $3.835, down 10.9 cents from Monday’s finish.

Unable to build upon Monday’s 41.4-cent gain, July natural gas futures on Tuesday backed off 12.9 cents to close at $4.120. Despite the pullback and continued soft fundamentals, some market experts are still convinced that now is the time to buy before prices really break out higher.

Even with crude futures flipping back to gains on Friday, natural gas futures traders were unable to ignore their own commodity’s dour fundamentals going into a demand-reducing holiday weekend. The June contract tested support at $3.500 before closing at $3.515, down 8.8 cents from Thursday’s close and a whopping 58.3 cents lower than the previous week’s finish.

May natural gas futures were unable to sustain Friday’s 13-cent advance and stumbled badly as weaker crude oil and equity markets set a negative tone to the day’s trading. Analysts see no reconciliation between plump production and recession-diminished demand for another two quarters and suggest things could get really grim if next winter is mild.

January natural gas futures inched higher Tuesday as traders saw a market that looks to have put in a bottom but was unable to shrug off a faltering oil market. January rose 1.3 cents to $5.579, and February gained 2 cents to $5.632. January crude oil fell $1.64 to $42.07/bbl.

Due to scheduled maintenance and work associated with the Elba III Expansion project, Southern LNG said its Elba Island liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal will be unable to accept ship cargoes for unloading through Nov. 23. Additionally, there will be no natural gas send-out Thursday (Nov. 13) through Monday (Nov. 17). From Tuesday (Nov. 18) through Sunday (Nov. 23) send-out will be limited to 675 MMcf/d due to project tie-ins for the Elba III Expansion. Following completion of the work, the North Dock will remain out of service until February.

Due to Tropical Storm Gustav, Destin Pipeline said effective with the start of Saturday’s gas day it will be unable to provide transportation services from offshore receipt points. This will be a force majeure event, Destin said, adding that its onshore receipt and delivery points will remain in operation.

After September natural gas futures gained barely more than a dime on Monday, bullish traders were unable to produce any follow-through momentum on Tuesday as the front-month contract reached a high of $8.479 before ultimately closing out the day’s regular session at $8.330, down 1.9 cents from Monday’s finish.