Weak

Continued strong crude oil prices and weak prices for natural gas in 2011 will make for a positive story for natural gas liquids (NGL), perhaps excluding ethane, Copano Energy LLC CEO Bruce Northcutt told financial analysts Friday.

Continued strong crude oil prices and weak prices for natural gas in 2011 will make for a positive story for natural gas liquids (NGL), perhaps excluding ethane, Copano Energy LLC CEO Bruce Northcutt told financial analysts last Friday.

Activity in the Marcellus Shale hasn’t declined even in the face of weak natural gas prices, a Williams Cos. executive said Thursday.

Activity in the Marcellus Shale hasn’t declined even in the face of weak natural gas prices, a Williams Cos. executive said Thursday.

After maintaining a facade of firmness for most of the week in the face of generally weak fundamental influences, the cash market fell at all but one point Friday, finally succumbing to the reality of little weather-based load, an ongoing lack of any tropical storm threats to offshore production, abundant storage inventories and a prior-day futures decline.

Weak national demand led all but a handful of companies to see natural gas marketing declines during the second quarter as the total volume sold in North America fell 9% — almost 11 Bcf/d — according to NGI’s 2Q2009 Top North American Gas Marketers Ranking. read more

The September natural gas futures contract went off the board with a bang on Friday as no change in the market’s weak fundamentals and a scramble to square books ahead of expiration resulted in a 16.6-cent, or 4.4%, decline to $3.651, which is 46.6 cents, or 11.3%, lower than the previous week’s close. Taking over the front-month contract title, October futures closed Friday at $3.705, down 13.8 cents, or 3.6%, from Thursday’s close and 43.2 cents, or 10.4%, lower than the previous week’s finish.

Prices continued to fall at virtually all points Thursday as weak prior-day futures continued to weigh on the market and predictions of hot weather lasting into at least mid-June were falling short of expectations.

Canadian natural gas exports deteriorated further during the 2009-2010 heating season, contributing to an accelerating switch of drilling targets to oil north of the border.