From Bloomberg.com:

Analysts Predict $7.50

Gas futures are poised to rise to $6 this winter in the U.S. and $7.50 next summer because of slowing output, Allison Nathan and Jeffrey Currie, analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., said in a Sept. 13 report.

“We had the major low on Sept. 4 and since then the market has had a lot of change in the way people are thinking about it,” said Beutel.

A recovery in the economy would lift demand from factories, chemical and steel plants, which account for about 29 percent of U.S. demand, and reduce the surplus.

The Commerce Department said retail sales increased 2.7 percent in August, exceeding a forecast of 1.9 percent, the median estimate of 73 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s general economic index increased to 18.9 from 12.1 in August as companies rebuild inventories with demand rebounding.

“People are repositioning themselves,” said Tom Orr, director of research at brokerage Weeden & Co. in Greenwich, Connecticut. “Goldman carries a lot of weight and that team has had a pretty good track record of making out-in-front calls on the market. The consensus seems to be that $2.40 was the bottom.”

Weeden yesterday reduced its gas price outlook for 2010 to an average of $4.25 per million Btu from $5 for the year because of the glut.

“Gas is up too much now in the short term,” said Orr. “The last time we got this high on an overbought reading was when we hit $4 at the beginning of August. It went on a big run from $3.20 to $4 and then blew off to a new low.”

Futures are above the 10-day moving average, Orr said, and other technical indicators, including Bollinger bands, signal the commodity is overbought. Prices may fall back to $3 per million Btu on weak demand and record supplies, he said.

“There will be some kind of recovery in the second half of 2010, but it’s too early to start bidding up gas now,” he said.