Continued large gains at New England citygates went against the overall grain of flat to lower prices in nearly all of the rest of the market Thursday. An early taste of winter-like conditions was still hanging around from the Rockies through the Midwest and Northeast, but the cold was due to start fading going into the weekend even as a cold front was about to bring cool temperatures into the previously moderate South.

Wednesday’s 6.8-cent drop by November futures also was a depressant for the cash market.

A few flat locations were mixed into losses ranging from 2-3 cents to about 15 cents. All gains from a couple of pennies to nearly 40 cents were in the Northeast and mostly at New England delivery points.

Despite a gain of about a nickel, Tennessee’s Marcellus-crowded Line 300 in Zone 4 remained by far the cheapest gas in the market, averaging around $1.10 with a low-end quote of 90 cents.

The Energy Information Administration modestly exceeded consensus expectations in the mid to upper 80s Bcf when it reported a 92 Bcf addition to storage for the week ending Oct. 21. Though falling off as the traditional injection season draws to a close, the build still handily surpassed year-earlier and five-year average comparisons. As a result, Nymex traders bid adieu to the expiring November futures contract by pushing it 6.6 cents lower to $3.524 (see related story).

Cash-screen convergence was off a bit as the Henry Hub average around $3.59 Thursday was at a premium of nearly 7 cents above the futures settlement.

Rina weakened further Thursday to a tropical storm, and new tracking projections not only had it stopping far short of western Cuba but even backtracking toward the south — assuming the system lasts long enough for that to happen. Meanwhile, the National Hurricane Center was giving near-zero odds of a low-pressure trough in the western Caribbean Sea developing into a tropical cyclone within 48 hours.

With most of the market seeing generally chilly conditions, the warmest and coldest areas this weekend will be the Phoenix area of the desert Southwest along with Southern California and much of Canada, respectively.

A western utility buyer said it was feeling a bit more like winter lately, but because area weather was still only moderate to cool his company’s gas throughput is on the light side. He said the utility picked up only a small amount of November baseload for one section of its service territory, figuring it could easily make do elsewhere with winter term contracts kicking in for November. He didn’t know the exact numbers his staffers got for the baseload, but said it was at the El Paso-San Juan index around flat to maybe plus a quarter-cent.

A marketer in the Upper Midwest said it was cold with lows close to 40 in her area, but not yet freezing. She reported buying November gas for last-day settlement basis of plus 24 cents and plus 27 cents at the Consumers Energy and MichCon citygates, respectively.

IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) reported November baseload numbers falling again on the third official day of bidweeek, almost certainly due to further erosion of futures. ANR-Southwest gas traded on the ICE platform averaged $3.40 Thursday, down from about $3.49 Tuesday and $3.45 Wednesday. ICE said El Paso-Permian prices also were down about a nickel Thursday to just shy of $3.37.

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