The Northeast’s price strength this week, which included spikes of nearly a dollar or more than a dollar during the previous two days, was starting to run out of steam Thursday with retreats at most citygates as a modest warming trend was expected to continue into the weekend. However, the rest of the market was getting at least a little second wind as single-digit gains prevailed at most points after overall softness a day earlier.

A majority of cash prices were flat to about 15 cents higher, with only a few exceeding a dime. A couple of western locations joined the Northeast in seeing declines ranging from a couple of pennies to a little more than 55 cents at Transco Zone 6-New York. Other than Transco’s market-area drop the next-largest drop was about 30 cents at Texas Eastern M-3.

The Energy Information Administration handily exceeded consensus expectations ranging from the upper 170s Bcf to the mid 180s Bcf when it reported a storage pull of 207 Bcf for the week ending Dec. 11. The big margin over the five-year average withdrawal of 127 Bcf proved sufficient to prompt Nymex traders into sending January futures 30.6 cents higher for the day (see related story).

New England will remain frigid for a while longer, with some lows around 10 predicted for Friday, but lower Northeast locations will begin seeing highs above freezing again Friday. But regions such as the Midwest and Rockies are due to see temperatures heading southward again. Much of the South will see relatively little change but keep experiencing lows in the 20s and 30s as far west as Oklahoma; however, much of Texas through South Louisiana will be warming by a few degrees Friday.

AccuWeather.com’s Alex Sosnowski said the Mid-Atlantic corridor from Roanoke, VA, through Washington, DC, to Philadelphia and Atlantic City, NJ, should batten down the hatches for a heavy snowfall beginning Friday at the southern end and expanding Saturday toward the north as a “cold Nor’easter takes aim” on the region. A bit of snow and ice can create slippery roadways as far south as Greenville, SC, into Charlotte and Raleigh in North Carolina Friday into Saturday, he said.

Other than a cooler trend in the Rockies to lows around 20 or less, most of the West will remain merely chilly.

Gulf of Mexico production is experiencing a sizeable, but temporary, loss after operator Anadarko shut down the Independence Hub for scheduled maintenance Thursday. The giant platform is expected to start ramping back up to recent throughput of 650-700 MMcf/d Monday morning, said Anadarko spokesman John Christiansen. The hub’s maximum capacity is 1 Bcf/d, he said, but because of pipeline constraints its optimal throughput probably will remain around the 700 MMcf/d rate that has been optimal since September.

A Texas-based marketer said he was “a little surprised” by the storage number being so far above prior estimates ranging from about 160 Bcf to 200 Bcf. Nymex looked like it was shooting for $6 at first but then fell back during the afternoon, he said.

Despite generally softer pricing for Friday deliveries into the Northeast, the marketer said he had seen an intraday Thursday deal done as high as $12.75 at Transco Zone 6-New York by a buyer who had been short on his heating load requirements.

“Sure,” he said, the screen strength will keep prices going up Friday at all or almost all cash market points, but the slight warm-up in the Northeast cast some doubt on whether numbers could continue to rise there. However, recently the Northeast has been a big driver of the overall market. As far as he was concerned, a number of minor maintenance constraints on Tennessee made it the main restriction of capacity for now.

A marketer in the Upper Midwest said she was still buying spot gas for clients because of the recent stretch of cold weather. The company tries to protect its customers as much as possible from high prices, she said, but obviously the heightened heating load in December has been good for business.

Michigan citygate numbers were up only a few cents Thursday, the marketer continued, but probably will record larger gains Friday both because of the screen run-up and area temperatures starting to get colder again going into the weekend.

Company staffers are “entitled” to get both Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve off as holidays, she said, but market demand may be strong enough to require someone coming into the office to buy gas on either or both days. If so, at least it will be relatively quick to take care of business and leave again, she added.

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