Natural Gas Prices

Physical gas for Wednesday delivery was mostly lower Tuesday as benign eastern weather lent a soft touch to the market. A few Northeast points advanced as pipeline restrictions continued, but next-day power forecasts called for moderate increases in load, and next-day peak power rose slightly.

Too much supply, too little demand has been the long-time refrain for U.S. natural gas markets, but bullish factors could rally the market, albeit briefly, this summer, a Barclays analyst said Monday.

Next-day gas firmed in trading Monday as a combination of a strong screen, Midwest warmth, and pipeline outages brought a firm undertone to the market. Overall prices rose 9 cents to $2.59, as gains in the Northeast, East, and Midwest far overshadowed weakness in the Marcellus. Loads in California were forecast to increase more than 20%, but prices made only modest gains.

Traders viewing the market landscape for weekend and Monday natural gas decided committing to three-day deals could wait and elected to hold off purchases.

Natural gas futures crawled higher following the release of government inventory figures showing an increase in working gas storage that was less than what the market was expecting.

It has been brewing for a while, but all indications are that the EIA…

Physical gas for Friday delivery changed little in Thursday's trading as most traders and marketers elected to get their deals done prior to the release of storage data by the Energy Information Administration.

Spot gas for Thursday delivery fell often in Wednesday's trading, led for the most part by falling next-day power prices and forecasts of moderating trends in key eastern population centers.

The total amount of natural gas sold by participants in NGI's quarterly marketers ranking survey increased only marginally in the first quarter…