Influences did not look conducive for higher prices. Only the Northeast was expected to see winter-like conditions extend into the weekend while most other regions moderated to seasonably cool fall weather; a larger-than-expected storage build report from the previous day ensured that heating season inventories would be more than adequate; and that led to November futures expiring 6.6 cents lower on Thursday.

Yet even with the weekend decline of industrial load as an additional (albeit minor) bearish factor, cash prices were flat to higher at a slight majority of locations Friday.

Again the Northeast commanded the biggest gains among prices that were flat to as much as about 55 cents higher. The Rockies and Midcontinent markets were home to most of the losses ranging from 2-3 cents to a little more than a dime.

Apparently feeling that December gas was undervalued at just over $3.76 as November futures expired, Nymex traders launched the December contract on its prompt-month reign with a sharp increase of 15.9 cents (see related story).

Former Category Two Hurricane Rina weakened further to a tropical depression Friday, and the projected tracking continued to call for a U-turn back to the south into the western Caribbean Sea. Meanwhile, two low-pressure areas — the first of which had been meandering slowly westward through the Caribbean during the week, and the second one joining it Friday in the eastern Atlantic — were being accorded only 10% chances of becoming tropical cyclones within 48 hours.

The National Weather Service’s (NWS) forecast for the Nov. 2-6 period indicated below-normal temperatures only in the Pacific Northwest, with above-normal readings expected in the central third of the nation and extending partially into Southern California in the Southwest. Everywhere else in the U.S. was likely to see normal conditions, NWS said.

For the time being, rain and some mountain snow would be spreading from West Virginia and the Mid-Atlantic northward into the Northeast from Friday through the weekend, with some parts of New England predicted to see 20s lows. The South and Midwest could anticipate cooler-than-average temperatures, The Weather Channel said, but major cold was not part of its outlook except for snowy conditions in parts of the Upper Midwest.

Midweek snow had departed from all but the upper elevations of the Rockies, although that region along with Western Canada would still be among the coldest market areas. The desert Southwest through most of the U.S. West Coast was expected to experience relatively mild to cool temperatures.

Other than an East Zone outage of Enogex’s Line 20 continuing, Tennessee’s addition of an Imbalance Warning in Zones 5 and 6 (see Transportation Notes) to an ongoing Action Alert OFO between Stations 315 and 321 constituted the only major pipeline restrictions going into the weekend.

Line 300 in Tennessee’s Zone 4 saw one of the day’s top declines of about a dime, averaging a little less than a dollar and seeing its low-end quote retreat to 75 cents after being at 90 cents a day earlier.

It’s “still much the same” with nice cool fall weather, a Midcontinent producer said, so he was puzzled that even a few points in the region were flat to up about a nickel. His company was close to being unable to sell its Oklahoma output anywhere, he said. There is still some space available on OGT, he added, but it won’t take the gas where the company wants it economically, with “economically” being the key word because he considers the intrastate pipe’s tariff as too high. And the Enogex Line 20 outage is blocking that outlet for the time being, he said.

A Midwest utility buyer said there is “a little bit” of local heating load with occasional lows in the 30s, but moderate days offset that to some extent. The utility bought minimal November baseload supplies due to a relatively moderate forecast for the month. It got what she considered a good price at the Northern Natural-demarc index minus 0.5 cent.

A western trader also reported small November purchases, saying it still seems to be a shoulder month-type market. Much of her primary West Coast market area is experiencing very pleasant weather and is still waiting for anything resembling winter to show up, she said.

IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) signaled the approaching end of bidweek in reporting greatly reduced November trading on its online platform. However, the Nymex spike helped prices rebound in the minimal activity still going on after three days of decline. For instance, the Cheyenne Hub was up about a dime to a $3.53 average Friday, ICE said, while Chicago citygates realized a slightly bigger increase from about $3.74 to nearly $3.87.

After a decline of nine a week earlier, the Baker Hughes Rotary Rig Count found a rebound of seven units to 934 rigs engaged in gas-oriented activity during the week ending Oct. 28. The Gulf of Mexico saw a gain of one while six rigs were added onshore, Baker Hughes said.

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