Following Wednesday’s brief market lull in which gains were small and softening had set in in some cases, all points were back on the same rising page again Thursday. A multi-day bullish streak in natural gas futures got the chief credit for the new advances, as gradually rising power generation load in the South was approximately offset by falling load caused by cooler temperatures in the Midwest, Plains and eastern Rockies.

Most of Thursday’s upticks were in double digits, topping out around a quarter, although a few points rose as little as about a nickel. The increases were fairly consistent across all market areas.

Whether cash strength can be sustained one more day was something of a coin toss issue. Despite cuts in industrial demand over a weekend, one source was confident that cash prices will be “following the screen” higher again Friday. He noted that in addition to natural gas futures tacking on a new gain of nearly a dime, this time they were joined by major rallies in Nymex’s oil-related offerings. He noted that the oil product contracts, which had been slipping recently in something of a temporary disconnect from gas, registered large increases Thursday as supply concerns mounted again with fresh violence in Iraq following a suspension of that nation’s oil exports caused by pipeline sabotage earlier in the week. July crude jumped more than a dollar to $38.46/bbl.

Others weren’t so sure about Friday firmness. They pointed to the areas that were already cooling off and noted that the Northeast would be joining them with a cold front predicted to move in Saturday.

With El Paso ending an OFO-like restriction, the Southern California border reacted with one of Thursday’s smallest upticks of a nickel or so. In contrast, Sumas and Stanfield registered strong increases of up to a quarter due to the previously cool Pacific Northwest heating up quickly. A resident of the region said temperatures had risen about 20 degrees over the past two days.

Previous expectations that the Palo Verde nuclear plant would be returning to service by the end of the week probably would have ensured some western softening Friday, according to one source. Instead, that issue remained in doubt as of Thursday, so now he expects triple-digit heat in the desert Southwest and continued absence of the big nuke to keep a floor under regional prices.

One trader said the intrastate Texas market was “pretty strong” despite there not being a great deal of power generation load. That should change by the weekend, though, he commented. Cooling rains in the state have started to end and temperatures should be getting solidly into the 90s soon. He noted that price ranges have been unusually narrow lately.

The Energy Information Administration reported a 94 Bcf storage injection for the week ended June 11, which came in a little on the bearish side of prior expectations. The volume was 20 Bcf below the year-earlier report but 11 Bcf above the five-year average. The East region once again led handily in padding its storage stash by 60 Bcf, with the Producing region and West region contributing 20 Bcf and 14 Bcf respectively.

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