NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index up nearly 7% for the week
By Steve Gelsi, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Cold winter weather in the Eastern U.S. and bullish natural gas inventory data helped natural gas shares hold on to gains on Friday, while buyers proved to be more coy in other parts of the energy sector.
Crude oil prices rose 38 cents to $73.03 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Natural gas futures also moved up 3 cents to $5.80 per million British thermal units, the day after a bullish drawdown in inventories.
Cold weather persisted in the Northeastern U.S., on Friday with a snow storm forecast for the weekend, keeping demand high for heating oil and gas.
Exxon Mobil (XOM 68.24, +0.03, +0.04%) slipped a penny to $68.21. Chevron (CVX 77.68, +0.78, +1.01%) rose 0.2% to $76.90. Both oil majors are components of the 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU 10,331, +22.90, +0.22%) , which rose 20 points, or 0.2%.
Among the broad energy sector gauges, The NYSE Arca Oil Index (XOI 1,044, +1.85, +0.18%) rose 0.2% to 1,044. The NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index (XNG 534.16, +4.52, +0.85%) rose 0.9% to 534. The Philadelphia Oil Service Index (OSX 192.05, -0.30, -0.16%) traded down 0.2% to 192.
Among stocks in the spotlight, Goodrich Petroleum (GDP 24.99, +0.25, +1.01%) rose 1% to $24.99. The company disclosed a fourth-quarter gain of $22 million on its commodity derivative portfolio.
Goodrich also disclosed its natural gas hedging positions for 2010, with a floor price of $6 per million British thermal units and an average ceiling price of $7.10 per million British thermal units.
Southwestern Energy Co. (SWN 47.46, +0.01, +0.02%) shares rose 4.5% to $47.45. The natural gas producer set aside $2.1 billion for capital investments in 2010 and said it expects to grow production by about 36%. About $1.5 billion of that will go toward the company's Fayetteville Shale play in Arkansas.
Analysts at Houston-based research firm Tudor Pickering Holt said the spending plan and volume targets matched their expectations.
Natural gas shares up for the week
The NYSE Arca Oil Index wrapped up the week at 1,044, down 5 points from its week-ago close of 1,049.
The NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index rallied to 534 along with a jump in natural gas prices this week, rising about 33 points, or 6.6% from its level of 501 seven days ago.
The Philadelphia Oil Service Index finished Friday at 192, up 6 points from its level of 186 a week ago.
