Markets

Natural gas bulls and bears duked it out in a split decision Tuesday as futures held steady after testing both sides of even. In the physical markets, at least one West Texas seller paid to get its gas out of the constrained region as reports of negative spot prices emerged for a second straight day; the NGI National Spot Gas Average climbed 5.0 cents to $4.345/MMBtu.

Natural gas bulls and bears duked it out in a split decision Tuesday as futures held steady after testing both sides of even. In the physical markets, at least one West Texas seller paid to get its gas out of the constrained region as reports of negative spot prices emerged for a second straight day; the NGI National Spot Gas Average climbed 5.0 cents to $4.345/MMBtu.

December natural gas futures were trading 1.8 cents lower at $4.230/MMBtu shortly before 9 a.m. ET as forecasters continued to point to risks for milder temperatures by the middle of next month.

December natural gas futures were trading at $4.074/MMBtu shortly before 9 a.m. ET Monday, down 23.4 cents from Friday’s settle as forecasters were pointing to an uncertain outlook for temperatures toward the second half of next month.

The Alberta government has doubled, to C$2 billion ($1.6 billion), a subsidy program for new petrochemical projects that increase demand for natural gas and liquid byproducts from wells and processing sites across the province.

Pipeline capacity shortages, supply backlogs and competition in the United States will add up to poor prices and hard times in 2019 for Canadian natural gas and oil, industry service firms predicted.

Natural gas futures slid over the holiday weekend and Monday, with indications of a milder pattern developing for mid-December potentially discouraging the bulls. In the spot market, prices generally followed the futures lower, while constrained West Texas points saw prices veer into negative territory for the first time on record in the United States; the NGI Spot Gas National Avg. dropped 60.0 cents to $4.295/MMBtu.

Natural gas futures slid over the holiday weekend and Monday, with indications of a milder pattern developing for mid-December potentially discouraging the bulls. In the spot market, prices generally followed the futures lower, while constrained West Texas points saw prices veer into negative territory for the first time on record in the United States; the NGI Spot Gas National Avg. dropped 60.0 cents to $4.295/MMBtu.

December natural gas futures were trading 12.2 cents higher at $4.645/MMBtu shortly before 9 a.m. ET Wednesday, with the market awaiting the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) first reported storage withdrawal of the season.