Warming

With warming trends developing, several pipelines either had already canceled holiday restrictions that had been in effect over the long holiday weekend due to cold weather or were in the process of doing so. However, a few constraints were still in place Monday. Wellhead freeze-offs were reported in a couple of areas but did not affect deliveries.

Moderate softening continued to reign in the cash market Wednesday as slow warming trends fail to prompt enough power generation load to turn prices around. A few Northeast citygates were essentially flat with losses of only a penny, while most other points recorded generally small drops ranging from 2-3 cents to a little more than a dime.

Swing prices moved lower again Tuesday despite hints that cooling demand will be rising slowly in the next few days. New declines were fairly moderate in the East, ranging from barely lower to just shy of 15 cents, with a majority of points falling less than a dime. Declining weather load caused western markets to record bigger losses from a little under a dime to slightly more than 20 cents.

Despite overbought conditions and forecasts calling for warming temperatures, natural gas futures finished the week on a positive note Friday as traders bid the market higher in sympathy with cash prices that remain at a premium to futures. There also was apprehension of the release of potentially bullish storage data Thursday. However, the gains were a winter-month-only phenomenon, as advances in February and March were in sharp contrast to losses throughout the rest of the contracts.

The little El Nino that has been warming equatorial Pacific waters off the coast of Peru apparently grew during the month of October, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which now expects much warmer sea surface temperatures this winter to lead to warmer than normal temperatures in the northern United States.

The little El Nino that has been warming equatorial Pacific waters off the coast of Peru apparently grew up during the month of October, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which now expects much warmer sea surface temperatures this winter to lead to warmer than normal temperatures in the northern United States.

Canadian environmentalists have lost an early battle to translate forecasts of global warming from the cloudy realms of theory into a practical barrier against growth by the natural gas industry in British Columbia.

Canadian environmentalists have lost an early battle to translate forecasts of global warming from the cloudy realms of theory into a practical barrier against growth by the natural gas industry in British Columbia.

Amid updated weather forecasts confirming the warming trend that is set to engulf the entire Eastern half of the nation this week, natural gas futures dove lower Tuesday, as traders returned from the holiday weekend and promptly liquidated long positions initiated early last week. February took the selling squarely on the chin, gapping lower at the open bell, and not once looking back as it came just one tick away from notching a new contract low at $2.094. It closed with an even 13-cent decline at $2.106.