With flat to mildly higher quotes at a few points in the West amid the overall mix, most of the cash market registered declines ranging from about a nickel to 15 cents Tuesday.

The fact that Tuesday’s dips were significantly smaller than those the day before at many points, plus reports of rebounding numbers in late Tuesday deals, hinted that the general price slide that began last Thursday might be close to leveling off.

While fundamental weather support for prices remains weak in the big picture, cold fronts in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest may be starting to have an impact in heating load, said a marketer. “It’s damp and cold enough in the Upper Midwest to get some furnaces running, but then a warm-up is due again by Friday.”

A severe polar front is preparing to blast into the western U.S. from Canada, according to The Weather Channel. Its initial impact will be felt most in the Rockies but the Pacific Northwest will eventually feel it also. TWC predicted Wednesday highs from the 30s over the northern Rockies to the 90s in the desert Southwest, but said the entire region will be “noticeably colder or cooler” Thursday.

A Sempra Energy spokeswoman said no gas distribution facilities belonging to either of the company’s utilities, Southern California Gas and San Diego Gas & Electric, have been damaged by the wildfires raging out of control in Southern California. However, up to about 1,200 people have lost gas service in SDG&E’s service area, either as preventative measures or where service was cut after homes were damaged. Another 300-400 gas customers are out in SoCalGas territory, primarily where homes have been damaged or destroyed in the San Bernardino area.

The National Weather Service’s forecast for the upcoming business week (Nov. 3-7) calls for above normal temperatures from lower New England through the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast, including most of Texas and eastern New Mexico. Below normal readings are expected north and west of a line running north-south through central Arizona, then heading east-west through Colorado and Kansas before veering northeast into the western Midwest. The strip between those two sections, along with upper New England, should be normal, NWS said.

As the Energy Information Administration’s action date for changing storage survey methodology (including retroactive volume revisions back to early July) draws near, a producer said Tuesday he is certain that the new EIA reports “will show a lot more gas is in the ground” (that is, in storage) than previously believed. “This is not a market that has been acting like it is short of gas. This is a market that’s acting like there is nowhere to put the gas. If you look back over the last several months, you see that (1) there was no major hurricane that disrupted production, (2) there has been significant demand destruction from higher gas prices, and (3) it was not a particularly hot summer. All that, along with the general feel of the market, leads me to believe that there might be a lot more gas in the ground than we think.”

Citigroup analyst Kyle Cooper said his final estimation for this week’s storage report looks for an injection of 60-70 Bcf, adding that he lowered his numbers “after actual temperatures [for last week] were quite a bit lower than estimates.”

Bidweek is still going very slowly up to this point, a marketer said Tuesday afternoon. She saw almost no change from Monday pricing in Tuesday deals around $4.10 at Waha and in the low $4.00s at Transwestern Permian. However, another western trader said November numbers seemed a little softer Tuesday. He quoted packages in the high $4.00s at Opal, in the $4.00 area to mid $4.00s at Sumas, and from the mid $4.10s to just over $4.20 at Malin.

A buyer reported doing physical basis deals at last-day Nymex flat in Zones 2 and 3 on Florida Gas Transmission.

A producer said Chicago citygate trading was active Monday “but not so much today [Tuesday].” Largely influenced by Monday’s screen dive, citygates were down to $4.62-65 Tuesday after being in the vicinity of $4.70 Monday.

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