Reversing course from late last week when nearly all cash market points fell, gains were predominant in most regions on Monday, despite the fact that the tropical storm radar got a lot less crowded over the weekend. Much of the country except for the West saw upticks from a few pennies to about a dime.

Cash point averages in East, Gulf Coast and Midcontinent regions saw mostly gains of less than a dime with a handful of sub-nickel declines mixed in. Leidy and Transco Zone 6 (NY) in the East were two of the averages that saw the largest upticks, with Leidy adding 13.44 cents and Transco Zone 6 (NY) adding 11.69 cents for gas delivered Tuesday, according to IntercontinentalExchange data.

The Henry Hub dropped 3.63 cents to average $3.92, which kept it in the vicinity of the prompt-month futures contract. Giving the cash market minor bearish influence going into Tuesday, October natural gas declined by 3 cents Monday to close the regular session at $3.885 (see related story).

The cash gains enjoyed in most regions were not prevalent for much of the West, which saw some cooler temperatures move in on Monday. While a few locations in the Rockies eked out an addition of a penny or less, most spots saw declines ranging from a few cents to a little more than a dime.

“It is actually starting to cool off a little bit out here,” a West Coast trader told NGI. “We’re not seeing a whole lot of change, and with the moderate conditions related to power plant load right now, you’re just not going to see a huge amount of fluctuation from what we’ve been seeing. In the East you will see that type of fluctuation, but right now we just don’t have that type of generation load. The air conditioners aren’t running as much.”

The trader added that the recent boom in the nation’s shale development has definitely been felt in the cash market. “All of the incoming shale gas supplies have really flattened prices out in a number of places. This summer was especially flat, which we don’t normally see,” he said. “There just is not a whole lot of questions on where gas supply is right now. No one is worried about not being able to refill storage going into winter.”

Gas prices likely won’t find any support from the tropics for the time being. While the market was forced to keep tabs on three separate named tropical storms in the Atlantic and the southern Gulf of Mexico for much of last week, this week begins with only Tropical Storm Maria swirling approximately 175 miles north-northwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico. If current National Hurricane Center path predictions hold up, oil and gas energy infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico and along the Gulf Coast should be safe as Maria is predicted to curve northward and remain out to sea well off the U.S. East Coast.

Production in the Gulf of Mexico is back to normal following the evacuation and shut-in disruptions from Tropical Storm Lee last week. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement on Friday issued its last report for Lee, in which the department said only 200 MMcf/d, or 4%, of the Gulf’s natural gas production, was still shut in.

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