Most of the cash market weakened as many traders (but not all) returned Thursday from the midweek holiday. Cooling load was still not up to early-July standards outside the western U.S. While the penny drop by August futures Tuesday had negligible negative guidance for Thursday’s cash trading, a further 13.6-cent screen drop Thursday likely will have more impact on weekend deals struck Friday.

The weekend loss of industrial load will have further negative implications for Friday’s cash market.

Declines ranged from 2-3 cents to about 35 cents. Several flat to a little more than a nickel higher points sustained a streak of mixed daily price movement.

Many of the largest drops occurred in the Rockies/Pacific Northwest as cooling load dwindled after some Rockies locations had started the week with high temperatures in the mid to upper 90s. Denver was expected to peak around 90 degrees Thursday and Friday. Both of El Paso’s San Juan Basin pools fell more than 15 cents despite triple-digit thermometer readings being forecast to continue in the desert Southwest and inland California.

One source said the market continued to be quiet with some traders augmenting the midweek Independence Day holiday by taking vacation time. The pace of trading is unlikely to pick up much through next week, he said, noting that the Calgary Stampede rodeo begins Friday night and runs through the following weekend. Many American gas traders use Stampede as an opportunity to get together socially with their Calgary counterparts.

The Atlantic basin stayed devoid of any tropical storm activity, but forecasters were keeping an eye on a low-pressure area in the central Atlantic Ocean that is moving westward toward the Leeward Islands (the upper half of the island chain between Puerto Rico and Venezuela). Showers and thunderstorms were flaring and waning near the center of this low pressure, so no immediate development is expected, The Weather Channel (TWC) said, but “if thunderstorms begin to persist, some tropical development would be possible.”

Widespread cooling rains were forecast to limit the South’s temperature peaks to the low 90s going into the weekend. Currently the Northeast is fairly moderate but will be warming to five to 10 degrees above average in New England by Sunday, according to TWC. The Midwest is also due for a warming trend over the weekend, but a cold front from Canada will keep that warm-up brief.

A western trader said that despite Thursday’s overall price weakness, regional electric utilities were still buying a lot of gas for their power plants. Gas-fired peaking generation units “have been running pretty steadily for several days now” in most of the West, he said. And with 100-degrees-plus heat continuing in inland California, it’s unlikely that PG&E and SoCalGas will be issuing new OFOs anytime soon, he added.

Noting very wide spreads between Western Canada and Malin/PG&E citygate prices, the trader said his company has been using its transport capacity as much as possible to take advantage.

It was cool last week and now it’s warmer with more humidity, a Midwest marketer said. But since regional delivered prices were down, she had to conclude that not many air conditioners are getting turned on yet. Midwest storage facilities are filling up rapidly, she said. Her company is currently not in the daily market, having bought some July baseload supply for its clients and not needing any more gas until further notice.

Ron Denhardt of Strategic Energy & Economic Research expects a 73 Bcf storage addition to be reported for the week ending June 29. Bentek Energy weighed in with a 75 Bcf estimate. And Reuters said its survey of 20 industry players found an average expectation of an 80 Bcf build. Estimates ranged from 69 Bcf to 94 Bcf, the news service said.

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