Following is an article published by Christine Buurma of Dow Jones Newswires published on 09-21-09 at 9:33 am. it detail how natrual gas prices fell on the NYMEX due to profit taking by speculative traders. It underscores Pure Energy's distrust of the current natural gas market as published in articles last week. The resulting advice to our customers is to seek great pricing today in order to fix electricity prices into the future. Given the fact that there is little room to move lower, the market at best will move flat over the shoulder months as we move into the higher demand months of winter. As the economy recovers, we will see additional credit and cash available to speculate and profit from driving the market up. Based on this fact, we advice locking a minimum of 12 months and look for deals stretching out to as far as 36 months if the customer can qualify for longer term deals.
DJ US GAS: Futures Slide On Profit-Taking, Lower Crude Oil
By Christine Buurma
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Natural gas futures slid Monday, propelled lower by
falling crude oil prices and weak equities as traders took profits after last
week's rally.
Natural gas for October delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange was
trading 15.8 cents lower, or 4.18%, at $3.62 a million British thermal units
after opening floor trade 11.3 cents lower at $3.665/MMBtu.
Traders were taking advantage of relatively high prices to sell contracts
after last week's run-up, which was prompted by signs of economic improvement
and the approach of the winter heating season. Falling prices in the crude oil
and equities markets were also placing downward pressure on natural gas.
Nymex light, sweet crude oil for October delivery was $2.25 lower, or 3.12%,
at $69.79 a barrel on a strengthening U.S. dollar.
"The drop in oil prices and the global markets being down has taken a little
wind out of the market's rally," said Gene McGillian, an analyst with Tradition
Energy in Stamford, Conn. "But it's premature to say that this market has
turned around and is really heading lower. We're still just chopping around."
Gas often trades in tandem with crude oil and petroleum products, some of
which can be used as substitutes for gas in power plants and heating systems.
Gas traders also track the equities markets, looking for signs of an economic
rebound that could boost energy demand.
Forecasters were predicting mostly warm early fall weather across the eastern
two-thirds of the U.S. The mild temperatures were expected to curb the demand
for natural gas for heating and cooling.
MDA EarthSat, a Rockville, Md. private forecaster, was predicting normal
temperatures across the Northeast, Southeast, and parts of the Midwest from
Sep. 26 to Sep. 30. Some slightly above-normal temperatures were expected in
the Upper Midwest.
Meanwhile, gas supplies remain onerous. Total gas in U.S. storage as of Sep.
11 was 3.458 trillion cubic feet, 16.4% above the five-year average and close
to an all-time record. Storage facilities are approaching full capacity, an
estimated 3.9 trillion cubic feet.
Although gas prices could rise as the winter nears, "visible fundamentals
still appear tilted toward the bearish side with storage maintaining a record
level by a wide margin" and no hurricanes threatening the Gulf of Mexico, wrote
Jim Ritterbusch, the president of Ritterbusch & Associates, a Galena, Ill.
energy advisory firm, in a note to clients Monday.
-By Christine Buurma, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2143;
christine.buurma@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
09-21-09 0933ET
Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
09:33 092109