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Unlike legislation passed out of two House committees this month, the head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Tuesday said he does not believe there should be any exception to clearing and trading of standardized over-the-counter (OTC) derivative products.

Southwestern Energy Co. isn’t going to let something like tight capital markets keep it down in 2009. Unlike a growing number of its peers, the Houston-based natural gas producer stepped up its planned capital expenditures (capex) in 2009 by half a billion dollars, with most of the money directed toward the Fayetteville Shale in Arkansas. The producer also expects to drill 10 more wells than it had scheduled for 2008.

The recent bullish momentum in natural gas futures continued on Tuesday as December natural gas futures punched north of $7 to close at $7.219, up 38.1 cents from Monday’s close. Unlike on Monday, crude futures moved in the same direction Tuesday as the December contract added $6.62 to close at $70.53/bbl.

Unlike the U.S. industrial sector, particularly electric generation, which has struggled with high wholesale fuel commodity costs, oil and gas suppliers enjoyed more favorable credit ratings and profits in the first half of this year, carrying over the same momentum from all of 2007, according to a recent Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) report.

Unlike the U.S. industrial sector, particularly electric generation, which has struggled with high wholesale fuel commodity costs, oil and gas suppliers enjoyed more favorable credit ratings and profits in the first half of this year, carrying over the same momentum from all of 2007, according to a recent Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) report.

Softness continued in most of the cash market Wednesday, but unlike the double-digit drops that were predominant the day before, nearly all of Wednesday’s declines were around a dime or less. Prices again were weighed down by dwindling cooling load, especially in the eastern end of the South (Atlanta’s high was predicted to fall from around 80 Wednesday to 73 Thursday), and by prior-day futures weakness.

Mixed price movement continued in the cash market Thursday, but unlike the day before when gains exceeded losses, this time declines were in the majority. Heating load is dwindling in northern market areas and so far there’s precious little cooling load developing across the southern U.S. to replace it. Atlanta temperatures were due to peak around 70 Friday.

The cash market returned to mixed price movement Thursday, but unlike the mixed quotes of Monday and Tuesday, there were more declining points than rising ones this time. Modest warming trends in the Midwest and Northeast (before the return of colder weather in both regions next week) were the chief factor in the majority softness.

Two transactions announced Tuesday suggest that the midstream sector is not suffering from a shortage of capital — or of those who see an opportunity to make a buck gathering, processing and marketing gas production.