Cash prices kept falling Thursday, but by smaller amounts than the day before. Snow in northern Michigan; frost advisories in parts of the Midwest, Northeast and even the upper South; and record-setting lows reaching the teens in some cases failed to avert softness.

The softness was fairly mild, however, with most points ranging from flat to about a dime lower, but a few in the Southwest saw declines extending to nearly 20 cents.

Tropical Storm Larry in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico could have been a potential price-booster, but it was moving in the wrong direction for that, a marketer pointed out. Larry’s southward tracking made it no threat to U.S. offshore platforms, although Mexican drillers in the Bay of Campeche probably are evacuating, he said.

Larry was drifting erratically southward and strengthening from a position about 185 miles east-northeast of Veracruz, Mexico at 4 p.m. CDT, the National Hurricane Center said. It expected that general motion to continue for another 24 hours. The Mexican government issued a tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch for the Bay of Campeche coast from Veracruz to Campeche.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Kate remained a remote afterthought for the market as it continued west-southwestward in the Atlantic. Its center was about 1,165 miles east-southeast of Bermuda at 5 p.m. AST.

Response was muted as the Energy Information Administration made it back-to-back in successive reports of 100 Bcf storage withdrawals. The latest 100 Bcf figure was at the high end of prior expectations, yet November futures closed out the day with a minuscule gain of just under a penny. That was hardly shocking, according to one trader, since reaction to the report “was already built into the market.”

Trading activity is staying quiet despite the early-autumn onslaught of near-winter conditions in much of the East, a couple of sources agreed. A Midcontinent marketer observed that regional temperatures had gotten down to freezing in the last two nights but were up into the 60s during the day, so “there’s a little bit of heating load in the early mornings but not much beyond that.” He expects weekend prices to keep falling Friday, but acknowledged that a cold front moving into the Midwest might keep any drops small.

Another Midcontinent trader concurred on prospect for further softening. “That daily gas for delivery on the first was mighty pricey,” he said. “Thankfully for us prices have came down significantly since then. With the size of the EIA’s storage report, I’m sure cash prices will keep coming down.”

A Calgary-based producer perceives gas as getting some support from strong crude oil prices (the November futures contract for crude settled not far below $30/bbl Thursday), but counted himself among those expecting the big storage refill to lead to lower gas prices Friday. That’s even with freezing conditions forecast for the Midwest over the weekend, he said. Closer to home, he reported Calgary-area highs in the 60s during the day and lows in the 40s at night, which is unusually mild for this time of year, he said.

A Pacific Northwest trader sees downward pressure on prices continuing as storage facilities fill and the option of stowing gas there temporarily expires for many people. He noted that Northwest Pipeline’s Jackson Prairie storage facility has essentially no injection capacity left and that the pipeline has kept cautioning shippers about high linepack for more than a week. “But I see load picking up later this month as colder weather comes on,” which may help negate the lack of storage injection options for traders, he added.

Sonat did not issue a Type 6 OFO for Friday, but said one was “highly likely” for long imbalances Saturday and Sunday.

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