Cash market pricing points were down almost across the board on Wednesday as temperatures moderated and demand eased. The biggest drops for a second consecutive day were recorded in the Northeast, despite calls for more snowfall overnight.

The cash market declines Wednesday were in contrast to the 10.6-cent gain in January futures on Tuesday. On Wednesday the prompt-month futures contract gained an additional 3.8 cents to $7.179, which was next to spot-on with the Henry Hub cash point average on the day of $7.18.

“Normally, near-month futures and Henry Hub cash prices converge as futures expiration nears,” said a New York trader. “However, futures and Henry have been in lock-step since last week. That tells me there is a hand-to-mouth situation where people are going into the cash market for their gas needs instead of tapping storage.”

Despite overnight snow, temperatures in New York were expected to warm up a bit over the next few days before another cold run. Transco Zone 6 NY shaved another $1.80 off its average Wednesday, bringing its two-day decline to $9.69. Gas for delivery Thursday at the point was averaging $11.49. Algonquin citygate also shed some excess weight on Tuesday, dropping $1.39 to average $9.85.

“Temperatures are expected to be in the 40s over the next few days, so that little bit of warmth could be influencing prices a bit,” said a New York trader. “However, we do have some more cold coming in on the weekend, and there appears to be some pipe constraints on Transco coming out of the Southeast, which look like they’ll be around for a while. Depending on the disruption’s size and duration, Transco NY prices could see some upward price pressure.

Prices up and down the East Coast could find some strength in the coming month as natural gas flow from point A to point B might be a little more difficult than normal. Williams’ Transco pipe said Wednesday that unplanned maintenance issues at Station 70 in Walthall County, MS, and at Station 100 in Chilton County, AL, will impact pipe flows.

“The duration of this maintenance is expected to last through the remainder of December and into January,” said Terry C. Fitch, manager of operations control for Williams Gas Pipeline, Transco. “There will be an impact on Transco’s ability to provide interruptible services, manage imbalances on its system and handle within-the-day flexibility.”

The pipe said that in order to mitigate the impact, shippers should maintain a concurrent balance between receipts and deliveries and take their deliveries on a ratable basis as much as possible. Fitch noted that shippers’ efforts to manage imbalances “will potentially reduce Transco’s need to issue notices of operational controls or operational flow orders.” He added that shippers should nonetheless be aware that Transco may need to be proactive in using all available options in its Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Gas Tariff to ensure it retains the necessary operational flexibility to meet customers’ firm contractual needs when market temperature forecasts indicate high demand.

The Transco pipeline transports natural gas from Gulf Coast supply areas to markets throughout the southeast, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast via 10,500-miles of pipe. The line serves major metropolitan areas including Georgia, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Out in the West, quotes were down mostly by a couple of pennies. PG&E citygate averaged a penny lower from Tuesday’s average and the Southern California Border Average was off by 4 cents.

“Prices were pretty weak on the West Coast,” said a utility trader. “Temperatures have jumped up a little bit, but now we are expecting some rain. After Friday, temps are expected to drop pretty significantly, which will bring generation loads back on.”

Turning attention to Thursday’s Energy Information Administration storage report for the week ended Dec.14, the consensus calls for a second-straight triple-digit withdrawal. A Reuters survey of 21 industry players is looking for an average pull of 134 Bcf, with a range running from a withdrawal of 117 Bcf to 152 Bcf. The number revealed Thursday morning at 10:30 a.m. EST will be compared to last year’s 85 Bcf pull and the five-year average withdrawal of 128 Bcf.

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