Northeastern citygate spikes in anticipation of much colder regional weather early this week belied an overall market that continued to soften in most cases Friday. However, Thursday’s 4.8-cent uptick by April futures and forecasts of sub-freezing temperatures Sunday in the Midwest added several rising points in the Gulf Coast and Midwest to the Northeast gains Friday, in contrast to losses at nearly all points a day earlier.

The usual weekend decline of industrial load was only partially in effect. Sunday’s transition to a new month meant that Friday’s deals were for Sunday-Monday only, with Friday-Saturday flows having been covered in Thursday’s trading.

The New York pool in Transco’s Zone 6 handily led the ascent among prices that were flat to about $1.80 higher. Although some Northeast points were still averaging less than $5, Zone 6-New York had a top quote of $8 Friday. A moderate majority of the market recorded losses of 2-3 cents to a little more than 35 cents.

Despite the expected bouts of cold weather in the Midwest and Northeast, Dominion was the only pipeline to initiate new OFOs in response (see Transportation Notes). However, a few Northeast-oriented pipes were restricting excess storage withdrawals and/or imbalances that subtracted from their system supply.

Much of the South had been experiencing mild weather since the middle of last week. But a cold front was already lowering temperatures considerably Friday in the Midcontinent and North Texas, and it was expected to spread eastward through the rest of the South by Sunday, according to The Weather Channel.

Weather in the West was predicted to remain moderate in southern sections, with highs in the mid 80s due Saturday in some desert Southwest areas such as Phoenix. The Rockies and Western Canada were the only parts of the region destined to keep seeing lows around freezing or lower.

PG&E, which on Thursday had projected California Gas Transmission system linepack going well above its maximum target volumes during the weekend, changed the forecast Friday to linepack remaining within desired levels.

A Midwestern utility buyer said his area would stay below freezing through Sunday but should start seeing normal temperatures for early March around the beginning of this week.

He said the utility had gotten “a little” behind on its storage withdrawal schedule, but he couldn’t pass up the cheaper prices for March baseload. Reporting a $2.80-90 price range at Northern Natural’s demarcation point, he said he expects the demarc index to be in the $2.90s, but he waited until Wednesday’s expiration-day screen drop to do most of the purchases.

Because March is typically a low-demand month in his area, a utility buyer in Florida said he bought only one baseload package in Florida Gas Zone 1 at basis of minus 35 cents. Into-pipe prices are always higher in Florida Gas Zones 2 and 3 (Louisiana), he said, and variable transport costs make it advantageous to buy in Zone 1 (Texas) whenever feasible.

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