Forward Look

Moderating weather forecasts sent natural gas forwards markets lower for the start of the week, with stout double-digit declines seen in key consuming regions and a drop of nearly $2 in the constrained New England market.

Northeast and Midwest natural gas forwards markets screamed higher at the start of the week — posting gains of more than $1 at one market hub — as a series of weather systems are expected to give these areas the first real taste of winter.

Natural gas forwards markets were mixed at the start of the week as market players wrote off November positions amid little in the way of weather and shifted their attention to December.

In an otherwise quiet start to the week for natural gas forwards markets, New England prices took a nosedive as continued lackluster demand and an improving storage picture weighed on the market.

With winter 2014-2015 right around the corner, many in the natural gas market seem relatively comfortable with their fourth quarter price expectations now that worries about insufficient winter supply have been mostly assuaged by an exceedingly strong storage injection season. Looking to get a handle on how 2015 might play out, there is no shortage of factors at play.

In yet another sign of rising shale gas production and corresponding growth opportunities in the midstream sector, one of the nation’s largest utilities companies, NiSource Inc., announced a plan Sunday to spin-off its Columbia Pipeline Group (CPG) into a separate publicly traded company that would form a master limited partnership (MLP).

As the market nears the end of the natural gas injection season next month, industry analysts are looking to the winter season and beyond to see what lies ahead. From what they’re seeing, higher prices may not be as close as some producers may have hoped.

As pipelines scurry to develop takeaway capacity from the oversupplied Marcellus/Utica shale region, a Morningstar Commodities Research analyst said the consequences of development will be both bullish and bearish for prices, depending upon where one’s gas lands.

Antero Resources Corp. inspired mixed reactions late Tuesday when it increased this year’s capital expenditure (capex) budget by nearly $1 billion and said production guidance would increase nominally, while electing to delay plans for a dry natural gas Utica test in West Virginia because of depressed prices.