Already weak cash prices got much weaker Friday, as Thursday’s across-the-board double-digit losses not only continued but grew much bigger to boot. The existing general lack of weather-based demand was exacerbated Friday by the previous day’s 37.5-cent dive by November futures and the decline of industrial load associated with a weekend market.

Except for Western Canada seeing the smallest drops this time (instead of the largest ones as on Thursday), declines were again fairly evenly spread across geographic market areas in ranging from about C20 cents (Empress) to about 95 cents (Kern Delivery).

It’s doubtful whether Friday’s screen rebound of 25.2 cents (see related story) will be able to breathe new life into the ailing cash market Monday with mostly moderate weather continuing to dominate forecasts and no signs of Atlantic tropical storm activity on the horizon.

Near-full storage remains troublesome for prices. Southern Natural Gas again referred to its high storage inventories in issuing a weekend OFO (see Transportation Notes), while Dominion cited “storage inventory levels, planned fall storage shut-in tests and scheduled maintenance” late Friday afternoon as it advised customers “to review their contractual storage entitlements and take the necessary steps to manage deliveries within those firm entitlements.”

In a set of western contrasts, Kern River reported low linepack systemwide Friday, while El Paso said it was still having to deal with high linepack.

IntercontinentalExchange recorded especially volatile trading in the NGPL-Midcontinent pool, with deals going from $2.17 at the bottom to a peak of $3.30. In contrast, its NGPL-TexOk range was only $2.19-2.60.

Other than Alberta and some sections of the Rockies dipping into the 30s at night, very hot or very cold temperatures were scarce in the weekend outlook. Phoenix in the desert Southwest continued to expect relatively mild highs around 90 (compared to the mid 100s less than a week earlier), while even the South was included among other regions where moderate highs in the 60s and 70s were predicted.

“Are my eyes deceiving me or is the spread between the November [futures] contract and Henry [Hub] now at about $2.30?” an incredulous producer asked at mid-afternoon Friday. No, his eyes weren’t deceiving him; instead of the expected converging trend, the screen and cash market were diverging. Actually, when the trading dust had settled, the Hub average of about $2.32 was approximately $2.40 less than the November futures close at $4.718.

A marketer in the Midwest said she had resisted turning on her furnace so far this fall, but with the thermostat in her house reading 62 degrees early Friday morning, she finally had to succumb and summon some heat. She was puzzled about what drove the screen higher, but said her company’s weekend cash prices of $2.49 and $2.47 delivered into Consumers Energy and MichCon, respectively, were “very nice” in comparison.

The number of drilling rigs searching for natural gas in the U.S. continued a slow growth, rising by two to 712 in the week ending Oct. 2, according to the Baker Hughes Rotary Rig Count. One rig each was activated onshore and in the Gulf of Mexico, Baker Hughes said. Its latest tally is up 2% from a month earlier but 54% less than the year-ago level.

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