Having lost much of the supporting elements for higher prices from earlier in the week, the cash market yielded to the inevitable Friday with sizeable across-the-board declines. Losses were measured in the teens at nearly all eastern points, while larger drops in the West were topped by dollar-plus plunges at the California border-SoCalGas and OFO-devastated PG&E citygate.

Would-be Tropical Storm Barry quickly lost its price-boosting punch, as Tropical Depression 2 instead went the other way and was downgraded to a tropical wave late Thursday afternoon. The National Weather Service said there would be no further advisories on the disturbance unless it regenerated.

It was easy to see why last week’s moderate bullishness could no longer be sustained, a couple of sources noted. Besides the fading of an unlikely hurricane threat, a substantial amount of air conditioning load had disappeared since the week began. Even eastern parts of the Southeast were going from hot to merely very warm, a marketer said, leaving only the region from Texas and Oklahoma through the desert Southwest with thermometer-straining temperatures. Toss in the usual weekend load slump, a screen dive and the impact of yet another 100 Bcf-plus addition to storage inventories, and there was no way to keep prices from sinking, he said.

A Gulf Coast marketer who thought Tropical Depression 2 never was a valid reason for higher prices in the first place, said he was glad to see it dying out so quickly, bringing his purchase prices about 15 cents lower Friday.

The Southern California border gave up its crown as highest-price point to both Midwest and Northeast citygates. Even some Gulf Coast pipes commanded premiums above the border. Although SoCalGas did not emulate the OFO of its northern neighbor PG&E, both markets fell by approximately equal triple-digit amounts.

Although border-SoCalGas dipped below $4 in Friday trading for every weekend during June, its lowest average during that period was $3.54 in June 6 activity. One must go all the way back to May 5, 2000 to find the last time the border averaged less than Friday’s $3.10.

Despite Rockies/San Juan Basin price drops being among the largest outside California, the supply basins were rebounding quickly in late trading in what one source called “a classic case of the old short squeeze.”

A marketer reported “stranding my capacity at Stanfield and Kingsgate,” by which she meant refraining from doing any deals at those points because Malin prices fell so low that transport costs were not justifiable. Stanfield quotes were barely a dime back of the Malin average Friday.

A Calgary source, weary from several nights of Stampede parties, noted that the annual rodeo was due to end Sunday, so trading in the city should return to some semblance of normality this week.

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