Natural Gas Prices

Not only did physical traders balk at committing to three-day weekend purchases on Friday, but in key eastern and Mid-Atlantic markets, the load-killing effects of Tropical Storm Bill made any sense of urgency to buy gas diminish further.

July natural gas opened 2 cents lower Thursday morning at $2.83 as traders anticipate that a government report will show natural gas storage inventories increasing at a rate well above historical averages in spite of record power usage. Overnight oil markets rose.

Natural gas futures worked lower following an inventory report that curiously showed an increase in working gas storage that was somewhat less than what traders were anticipating…

Spot natural gas for Friday delivery scooted lower in Thursday's trading at about the same rate as the prompt-month futures contract, which failed to rally…

Physical natural gas prices on Wednesday for gas to be delivered Thursday continued to march higher across…

Tropical Storm Bill and heatwave concerns continued to apply upward price pressure to natural gas physical prices on Tuesday, as NGI's National Spot Gas Average increased a nickel to $2.69.  However, the gains were a bit more subdued than on Monday, as most individual price points across the country added between a couple of pennies to a dime.

Natural gas came back from the weekend with a vengeance as double-digit gains were the norm for both the physical and futures markets thanks to a tropical weather system developing in the Gulf of Mexico.

The energy industry is more convinced that U.S. natural gas prices will be lower over the coming year, while expectations are higher for oil prices to strengthen, a new survey by Bernstein Energy has found.

Natural gas market bulls were down and out Friday as trading in the cash market as well as in the futures arena continued Thursday's bearish activity, further eating into the gains made from the week's first three days of positive action.