Oil Gains Ground, but natural gas continues slide

Since topping out at $13.50 per 1000 cubic feet on July 1, the price of natural gas has fallen sharply to $9.33, its lowest point since March. How will the falling price of natural gas impact leasing activity (and royalty lease bonuses) in the Haynesville Shale? This is a question that remains to be seen.

Oil Gains Ground, but natural gas continues slide
July 24, 2008 NEW YORK (AP) — Energy market investors managed to win back modest gains Thursday following oil's big drop a day earlier, but again drove natural gas prices sharply lower as a three-week sell-off of that fuel continued unabated.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery rose $1.05 to settle at $125.49 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange — gaining back only about a quarter of Wednesday's decline. August natural gas tumbled 46.5 cents to settle at $9.283 per 1,000 cubic feet, its lowest point since March....

Natural gas fell after the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that natural-gas inventories held in underground storage in the lower 48 states rose by 84 billion cubic feet to nearly 2.4 trillion cubic feet last week.

Investors hoping for an uptick in demand — and a reason to stop the fossil fuel's sharp decline — were looking for signs of a slower build. However, the Energy Department figure came in at the high end of a forecast range of 79 billion to 84 billion cubic feet provided by analysts surveyed by the energy research firm Platts.