Appropriately for the first full day of spring, moderate springtime weather dominated both Friday’s weather picture and the weekend outlook. That was reflected in cash prices ranging from flat to down nearly 30 cents. Declines in the middle (a dime to 20 cents) were in the majority.

Weak energy futures and lower industrial load over a weekend also applied downward pressure. Nymex’s natural gas contract followed up Thursday’s small gain with a drop of nearly 18 cents Friday, while crude oil and heating oil racked up major losses again as confidence grew that the Iraq war would be brief and cause little disruption to world supplies.

More than one eastern utility said their loads had dipped so low that they had no trading to report Friday. One in the Northeast said she tried for some intraday sales in the high $5.80s for Texas Eastern M-3 and the Algonquin citygate, which would have been 40 cents or so above weekend swing numbers, “but nothing came together because they were able to find cheaper gas elsewhere.” Unlike other utilities that have begun injecting into storage ahead of the traditional season for such activity, her company is still deferring injections even though its account allows them prior to April 1.

A western marketer’s characterization of the current market as “lackluster” represented the consensus of several sources. Trading volumes and volatility were low, they said. The marketer’s 4-cent range at Malin was his widest spread of the day.

A Midwest marketer saw the market doldrums as a case of “people taking deep breaths lately” after the hectic activity of late February and early March. He lamented the disappearance since Enron’s demise of most online cash trading platforms, particularly his favorite, QuickTrade. Even IntercontinentalExchange is “turning into a vast wasteland,” he lamented. ICE isn’t being bid nearly as much now as it used to, the marketer went on, and thus he finds “very little” price discovery there now. However, brokers are coming back into vogue as a result, “which I don’t mind because I like dealing with brokers,” he concluded.

A Denver-area source said CIG joined Questar Friday as Rockies pipes starting to garner quotes under $4. The region’s heavy snowfall earlier in the week was melting Friday, but she still had a lot of catching up on paperwork to do after being out two days due to the storm.

A California-based trader said it was “nice and warm” in PG&E territory, so loads were on the low side. He also noted that a unit at the utility’s Diablo Canyon nuclear plant is due to come back online from refueling “at any time before end of March, so that should cut California gas demand further.”

A number of sources concurred that essentially nothing is happening yet in the April market. “Not even talk as far as I know,” said an East Coast utility buyer. However, a western trader said he knew of April fixed-price deals being done Thursday at Opal on either side of $3.60. Otherwise there’s just indexed trading at this point, he said.

©Copyright 2003 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.