Alex Steis

As the nationwide polar vortex was expected to lift over the weekend, weekly natural gas trading -- Thursday and Friday -- showed declines at a majority of pricing points across the United States. Most declines were in the neighborhood of 30 to 80 cents.

Oil and natural gas supply and price signals are still telling exploration and production (E&P) companies to drill, according to the latest U.S. rig count from Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE).

The U.S. rig count fell by five units for the week ended Friday thanks to a drop in both oil and natural gas activity, including declines in the Haynesville and Eagle Ford shales and in the Williston Basin, according to data from Baker Hughes Inc.

It would appear U.S. natural gas producers have finally taken notice of the price signals being sent as Baker Hughes Inc. reported Friday that the number of rigs on the hunt for the commodity have dropped for the third consecutive week.

With summer beginning to kick into high gear, natural gas market watchers are eager to see whether periods of prolonged heat can provoke enough cooling demand to put a dent in robust gas supply and nudge prices higher.

With summer beginning to kick into high gear, natural gas market watchers are eager to see whether periods of prolonged heat can provoke enough cooling demand to put a dent in robust gas supply and nudge prices higher.

Oil was king for the week ending May 25 as the number of rigs on the hunt in the United States increased by 15 rigs to 859 over the previous week, according to Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) data.

Industry prognosticators hit it nearly right on the nose Thursday morning as the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that 86 Bcf was withdrawn from underground storage for the week ending March 16.

Adhering to the normal winter rig slowdown, the number of U.S. oil and gas rigs in operation for the week ended Jan. 5 dropped by five to 924, according to Baker Hughes data. However, all five lost rigs came from the oil side of the ledger.

The last North American rig count of 2017 went out with a whimper instead of a bang as the number of rigs actively drilling for oil and gas for the week ending Dec. 29 declined by two units to 929, according to Baker Hughes data.