Prices ranged from flat to mostly moderately higher Friday in all regions except the Rockies. They got some follow-through momentum from Thursday’s screen run-up following a below-expectations storage report, and traders also were looking ahead to the return of Northeast temperatures in the 90s as this week begins.

A majority of gains tended to range from about a nickel to nearly 20 cents, but most were a dime or less. The larger ones tended to cluster in the Northeast, and Transco Zone 6-NYC rose about 40 cents due to the limits on pipeline access at the citygate.

“We’re anticipating some heavy power generation demand when the heat comes back Monday,” said a Northeast utility buyer. She reported doing a mix of all-weekend and Monday-only deals, with the one-day gas fetching a substantial premium. For example, Tennessee Zone 5 was in the mid $3.10s for three-day supply but around $3.50 for Monday-only flow, she said. The premium was less at the Algonquin citygate, the buyer added, quoting deals also in the mid $3.10s for all-weekend gas, but only about 20 cents higher for Monday-only. She expects intraday trading to be heavier than usual Monday.

Production-area upticks were tempered by the Northeast being the only key eastern market area due for a new heat wave. Cold fronts will keep the Midwest and South unseasonably mild through early this week, one forecaster said. And a marketer said most of the West was already experiencing conditions more like early fall than the dog days of August.

Gulf Coast prices “kind of went up for a while, then slacked off,” a producer said. He thought the expected failure of the Midwest to join the Northeast in a new heat wave was responsible for the mild late retreats.

The fuel buyer for an electric utility in the South said she didn’t buy any gas for the weekend, explaining, “It’s not hot enough to run our gas peaking units. Also, gas was too pricey and others were willing to offer more for it than I was.”

Florida Gas Transmission “was just teasing us with a one-day break from the Overage Alert Day,” a Florida utility buyer commented wryly after the pipeline reissued the OFO-like notice after having lifted a previous one Thursday (see Transportation Notes). “I could see it coming back. It [Thursday] was the first day in August without a notice and everybody tries to trim their imbalances then.”

“There’s just no load out there,” commented a marketer on the Rockies softness in the midst of overall firmer prices. She also noted that Trailblazer’s Station 601 was still out from a force majeure lightning strike earlier in the week, and the resulting allocations were hampering Rockies gas trying to move eastward.

Sumas managed to rise about a nickel while Northwest-domestic fell by a similar amount. One source said the primary difference was what he estimated as more than 400 MMcf/d of supply being off the Westcoast system during the McMahon Plant’s annual turnaround, which runs through Aug. 20. Sumas supplies were tighter last week because of that, he added, but regional demand has been fairly low, “so it hasn’t made a huge price difference.”

Former Tropical Storms Bertha and Cristobal faded out of existence over the southern tip of Texas and the Atlantic Ocean, respectively.

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