Despite widespread mild weather that argued for continued softness, most of the cash market managed to pull out of this week’s downhill slide Thursday and post remarkably consistent flat numbers. Only the Rockies, and to a lesser degree Northeast citygates and Columbia-Appalachia, recorded declines of more than a couple of pennies.

Traders attributed the sudden flatness after a week of mostly declines almost entirely to the Energy Information Administration’s morning report of 33 Bcf in storage injections last week. Not only was the figure below most prior expectations, but it also was accompanied by a retroactive revision of the previous report’s data that lowered inventory levels by 12 Bcf (see related story). A quick screen spike was followed by a slower rise in cash quotes, sources said.

Referring to the storage report, a large marketer said, “The revision was the kicker; the [last week] number by itself would have not made so many waves. Our internal estimate was in the high 30s [Bcf].”

Ranges were pretty tight in the Northeast, said one trader, who added, “New York-area points [Texas Eastern M-3 and Transco’s two Zone 6 pools] were basically flat to one another because of how cool it is. A high of only 80 degrees isn’t going to convince anyone to turn on the air conditioning.”

Midwest points were a little softer as trading began but moved higher after the storage report came out, a trader in the region said. She added that Chicago citygates were in the low $2.60s before the report but were nearly a dime higher near nominations deadline. It was a good day for buying early and selling late, the trader said. However, field prices tended to weaken a bit, she went on. “NGPL Midcontinent went from $2.48 early to low $2.40s later, but then came back up a little.” The trader found it hard to understand why Henry Hub would be trading at a premium of about a dime over the Chicago citygate.

A western source said, “We’re seeing a lot of markets essentially dead, because there are a lot fewer people to trade with. I think there is a lot less speculative trading now. More people are buying and selling only the gas that is actually needed” instead of trying to shift it around through several transactions in hopes of making an extra penny or so in profit. She thought the screen run-up potentially could lend support to eastern prices Friday, but said demand was too weak in the West to yield a similar effect.

El Paso-Permian and El Paso-Blanco were among the rare points realizing gains of more that 1-2 cents, partly due to traders anticipating a big reduction of a 600 MMcf/d capacity constraint (see Transportation Notes). A western marketer commented, “We traded as if El Paso’s 600 MMcf/d restriction on the North Mainline would not be in place for Friday’s gas day, although as far as we know right now, it’s still restricted.” He explained that intraday trading for the pipeline’s Cycle 3 hadn’t been completed at that point, after which the capacity reduction was to be lowered to 165 MMcf/d.

Tropical Depression Bertha was expected to make landfall for the second time somewhere in South Texas Thursday night. Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Cristobal was fading as it kept well out to sea.

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