Pockets of firmness in the West went against the grain of overall price declines ranging from about a nickel to 15 cents elsewhere Wednesday. Most of the declines were around a dime.

A screen drop that hovered in the vicinity of a dime during the morning pointed the way for the cash retreat, sources said. However, a cold front approaching the South was expected to dampen this week’s air conditioning demand buildup considerably by tonight.

It’s pretty safe to assume prices will keep falling today, one trader said. Not only did May futures continue to soften Wednesday afternoon following the AGA storage report and in subsequent Access activity, he said, but you also have to factor in the usual slump in demand over a long holiday weekend as many firms take off for Good Friday.

AGA said a net 14 Bcf in working gas was injected last week, but the Consuming Region East continued to register a small drawdown of 1 Bcf. Replacement of the 11 Bcf in base gas withdrawals reported during March has begun, with AGA saying 2 Bcf of base gas got returned to the ground in the Producing Region.

A marketer said the 14 Bcf injection “was a good-sized number, but we need the next one to make more sense out of it, though.” Assuming AGA will report a larger injection volume next week, the market will make up quite a bit of deficit ground in comparison with the year-ago 25 Bcf withdrawal, he said.

Contrary to reports Tuesday of strong storage injection demand, a Gulf Coast marketer said he was selling most of his gas to Southern power generators and relatively little destined for storage.

Flat to higher numbers in the Rockies/San Juan and California were led by a California border-SoCalGas uptick of 70 cents. The upper Rockies is one of the few remaining regions, along with western Canada, where genuine vestiges of winter still linger, a producer noted.

Traders of Alberta production had a temporary window of no restrictions Wednesday at the Alberta/British Columbia border. However, the restrictions will return due to continuing NOVA maintenance, a staffer said.

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