To no one’s surprise, softness ruled in Friday’s trading for the weekend. Most price drops ranged from about a nickel to a quarter, with those in the vicinity of a dime most common. The larger declines tended to be at western points, and weekend OFOs caused border-SoCalGas and the PG&E citygate to register plunges on either side of a dollar.

A tight-ranged, mostly flat screen had little influence on cash, one source said. But the lowered demand of a weekend period and a dearth of really hot weather outside the southern Plains and desert Southwest did matter to cash traders, he said.

Northeast citygates fell by less than a dime, because although area weather was still mild Friday, temperatures in the 90s were due to arrive around Sunday.

“We’ve still got some significant air conditioning demand from heat around Texas, but not enough to keep prices from falling,” an intrastate trader said. One reason for that, he noted, was the Comanche Peak nuclear unit, that tripped offline in the middle of last week, was ramping back up faster than expected. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission reported the unit back to 85% power and climbing Friday.

Midcontinent prices in the mid $2.80s were consistent in trading a dime or so below the screen, a producer said. Otherwise the regional market was pretty featureless, she added.

Both of the major California distributors had high-linepack OFOs in place Saturday, predictably causing a plunge in Golden State prices. Border-SoCalGas averaged below $3 for the first time since mid-April 2000. A PG&E citygate drop of more than a dollar combined with Malin’s decline of less than 20 cents to leave a spread of only about 15 cents between the two points. “That made it a good day to sell at Malin and buy at the gate,” a marketer observed.

Tropical storm activity in the Atlantic basin remained quiet, although one forecasting service mentioned an area of low-level circulation forming south of Guatemala that had potential for becoming a tropical depression over the weekend.

Most sources indicated they wouldn’t start formulating bidweek strategy until this week. A Tulsa source thought the tight Nymex range likely inhibited most people from making any moves toward August business Friday. However, one trader reported intra-Alberta purchases for August in the low to mid C$3.50s. That was about C30 cents above Friday’s July swing numbers. But with August futures remaining below $3, “it’s looking pretty weak for next month,” according to a Houston-based marketer.

©Copyright 2001 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.