With sources in the Northeast and Midwest feeling that they could finally say good-bye to Old Man Winter after the dude had prolonged his stay to uncomfortable lengths, it was hardly surprising to see all points united in mostly moderate softening Tuesday. Northeast citygates led the losses that ranged from about a nickel to 20 cents. Most were on either side of a dime.

It was still chilly Tuesday in the two key northern market areas, but that represented improvement from previously sub-freezing lows. And although the interior West was expected to retain warmer than average temperatures through Wednesday, it was due to start a cooldown by exporting some of its warmth eastward into the central U.S.

“I’m hoping winter is gone for good this time, because it sure has been slow in leaving,” said a staffer at a marketing affiliate of a Northeast utility. His area was anticipating weather getting up into the 60s by the weekend, and although the thermometer might fall again in the next couple of weeks, he didn’t see any more freezes occurring before the next winter heating season begins.

The marketer noted that despite a small decline in April gas futures, they had rebounded from lower depths on the support of Nymex’s oil-based contracts. Crude for May, the new prompt month in that product, rose 40 cents to $37.45/bbl after the Bush administration repeated its intention to continue deliveries into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve despite calls for a suspension. A fire at a Sunoco refinery in Tulsa contributed to soaring unleaded gasoline futures.

A utility buyer in the Lower Midwest was having similar thoughts about the change of seasons. “We may get another shot or two” of cold in April, he said, but for the present he was glad to greet springlike weather. “We’ll have highs in the 70s for the next week or so.”

And a marketer likewise doesn’t expect any return of winter to the Upper Midwest, saying, “It will be cool tonight [Tuesday], but we’ve definitely entered a warming trend since last week.” The marketer said he is seriously thinking about trying to get into oil trading to a minor extent because of his certainty that after developments in recent days, especially the killing of the a militant Palestinian leader by Israel, new terrorist attacks will be coming soon and will disrupt world oil markets.

The West, the only one of the three regions in the Energy Information Administration’s storage survey to report a net injection (3 Bcf) in last week’s report, may repeat the distinction this week if Northwest Pipeline’s Jackson Prairie facility is any indicator. In its system status report Tuesday, Northwest said working gas volume at Jackson Prairie totaled more than 10.2 Bcf as of Sunday. Last week the volume had been reported at a little more than 9 Bcf.

Citigroup analyst Kyle Cooper, whose final estimation Monday for this week’s EIA report was a draw of 49-59 Bcf, said Tuesday he had raised the estimation to 51-61 Bcf “after some more data was received.”

An East Coast trader said he hadn’t heard from anybody wanting to get into April deals yet. He expected bidweek action to begin by Friday when April options expire, and probably to be heaviest next Monday when the April futures contract goes off the board.

On the other hand, a Midwestern utility buyer reported that “a lot of folks have been talking with us about the April market for almost two weeks now, but we haven’t done any deals other than regular term business.” He wasn’t hearing any “firm numbers” for next month.

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