Except for minor softness in the Midcontinent/Midwest and Northeast areas, the East was dominated by flat pricing Thursday. The market tended to be a bit weaker at western points, which ranged from flat to down more than 15 cents (PG&E citygate).

The reasons for prices either plateauing or falling after Wednesday’s overall mild rebounds were familiar: weather too mild to generate much in the way of either heating or cooling load, plus marginally weaker energy futures. Although warming trends are due in the Midwest and South, they aren’t expected to offset the demand slump associated with a long holiday weekend. “It’s a safe bet to expect falling prices on Friday,” a marketer commented.

EIA reported 68 Bcf in storage injections for last week, which was towards the high end of prior expectation. The volume further reduced the year-on-year surplus but was considered a tad bearish, one source said.

Northeast citygates were down a little despite a cold front expected to enter the area Friday and cause some parts to be 10-20 degrees below normal, a marketer said. He added, however, that the chilly forecast prompted some LDCs to buy new gas to avoid dipping into storage.

One factor helping prop up Gulf Coast prices is that Gulfstream started buying linepack supplies at the beginning of the week, said a marketer who estimate the pipeline’s volumes at about 400 MMcf/d. Virtually all of it is coming from Mobile Bay and is gas that otherwise would have been destined to go into Transco, he said. “That’s a key reason for [Transco] Station 65 prices being so strong this week,” the marketer added. Station 65 continued to maintain a premium of about a dime over Henry Hub Thursday.

A spokesman told NGI that Gulfstream might begin making deliveries in Florida next Tuesday, several days before its scheduled June 1 start-up. However, he cautioned that Tuesday is only tentative for beginning service.

PG&E did not issue an OFO but projected that linepack would be rising above its maximum target level this weekend, which prompted traders to push the citygate down in Thursday’s biggest price drop, a marketer said. The general gas price weakness in the West was related to Wednesday’s sharp plunge in power prices at the region’s key electricity trading points, he noted. IntercontinentalExchange reported power numbers traded on Wednesday diving by nearly $7/MWh to an average of $10.68 at the Mid Columbia point, along with smaller but still large drops at Palo Verde, SP 15 and NP 15.

Very little other than basis or index deals for June are expected to get done as bidweek opens Friday. “Practically all the business, especially at fixed prices, will be done next week,” a Gulf Coast trader said. “Who wants to commit before getting fresh weather data after the long weekend?”

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