A moderation of recently severe winter weather in several market areas is still on the way, but the cold retained enough grip Tuesday to spur small gains of about a nickel or less at a majority of points. Citygates in the Northeast were joined by Florida deliveries in recording larger advances, while western points were mostly flat to 3-4 cents lower.

Florida citygates saw the day’s biggest gain of more than 20 cents as falling temperatures in the Sunshine State prompted Florida Gas Transmission to caution shippers that an Overage Alert Day notice might be issued today.

As a further indicator of great demand in the Southeast versus the West and Midwest, PG&E and Northern Natural Gas were able to discontinue low-linepack OFOs (see Transportation Notes), but Sonat still has one in effect until further notice.

Algonquin citygates were king of the price mountain at nearly $3.30 as most of the Northeast’s extreme cold is expected to remain in upper New England today. Transco Zone 6-NYC rose about a dime to also average above $3, but in considerably less volatility than Monday’s dollar-plus trading range that soared as high as $3.80.

A marketer who quoted Henry Hub on either side of $2.20 said it was significant that cash stayed about 8 cents above the screen during the morning, much the same as on Monday. Henry Hub swing swaps for the balance of the month are trading at plus 4 cents, he said.

“The utilities are telling suppliers that they will be hitting storage hard except during times of really bad weather,” so it’s reasonable to assume softness will start dominating the market either today or Thursday, a Gulf Coast trader said. However, he added that he “wouldn’t be surprised at all” to see today’s AGA storage withdrawal report handily surpass all previous expectations, which generally have been reported from 80 Bcf to as much as 130 Bcf.

A Dallas-based firm sent most of its traders home early after snow fell for more than six hours in the metropolitan area, one staffer said. However, little of the snow was sticking, he added, and he looks for Tuesday’s mild firmness to be short-lived because temperatures there are expected to be in the mid 40s Thursday and up to the 60s Friday. Others tended to agree about imminent price declines, although they acknowledge that colder weather is hanging on longer this week than most mid-term forecasts had indicated last week.

A Canadian producer offered this observation: “You still make money selling two-dollar gas. It’s not the money we saw last year, but it is still worth doing.”

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