The suggestion that natural gas is worthless may be extreme, but it is an indication of the challenge the industry faces. Market experts continue to expect weak prices for natural gas as a surge in unconventional gas discoveries, such as shale plays, pour on to an already-flooded market. Add in unpredictable weather and a slower-than-forecast economic recovery, and the outlook doesn't get much brighter.

Approximately 37.1 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more away from home during the holiday weekend, typically the busiest time for auto travel in the United States, the world's largest energy consumer, down from 37.8 million last year.

OPEC has been emphasizing for a long time now, that fundamentals -- demand and supply -- no more control the oil markets. Non-fundamentals -- speculation to be specific -- are now in full control and the world needs to rein them in.

The European Commission said a repeat of January's energy shortfall was likely if Ukraine failed to raise €4.2m needed to pay for Russian gas supplies required to fill its storage facilities.

On Thursday, it settled at $66.73, less than half the record price, following a $2.58 decline.

Eighteen of 37 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News, or 49 percent, said futures will decline through July 10. Nine respondents, or 24 percent, said the market will be little changed and 10, or 27 percent, forecast that oil prices will rise. Last week, 55 percent of analysts said prices would drop.

The firm said in a statement late Thursday that it was investigating the trades, which drove up the price of Brent futures by more than $2 in one hour early Tuesday London time. It did not identify the trader involved in the transactions.

3. Briefs

Supplies of spot LNG from projects from countries such as in Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Egypt and Algeria may fall to about 4 million metric tons this year, or to 2006 levels, from about 15 million last year, said Strategic Planning Director Ane Arino Ochoa at Spain’s largest oil company.

For the last three years, preliminary estimates for U.S. petroleum consumption (more formally called "product supplied to the domestic market") published in the EIA's Weekly Petroleum Status Report (WPSR) have been revised down when more comprehensive data becomes available in the Petroleum Supply Monthly (PSM) published six weeks later.

The forecast for benchmark futures contracts traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange was revised to $71 a barrel from $62, Barclays Capital analysts led by Paul Horsnell said in a weekly report yesterday. Barclays increased its projections for Brent crude by 9.5 percent to $69 a barrel and left forecasts for the fourth quarter and 2010 unchanged. "

Since the number of miles traveled by motor vehicles in the USA peaked in November 2007, the nation's 12-month total has dropped by 123 billion miles, or slightly more than 4%. That's a bigger decline than the drop of just above 3% during the 1979-80 Iranian revolution that triggered a spike in gasoline prices in the USA. "

Fertilizer companies may need an additional 24 million cubic meters a day of gas to feed new plants and existing ones that are switching from using naphtha and fuel oil, Satish Chander, director-general of the Fertilizer Association of India, said by telephone from New Delhi.