Most of the cash market was falling again Wednesday as weather and storage fundamentals remained bearish. However, several western points (primarily in the Rockies) were flat to a little more than a quarter higher. The majority of losses ranged from about a nickel to 30 cents or so.

Cash quotes received little support from Tuesday’s screen increase of 6.4 cents. They won’t even have that Thursday after October futures recorded a decline of 7.5 cents Wednesday.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, a cash rally appears unlikely for at least the rest of this week. Although the South will begin warming up Thursday, it will be from a position of below average temperatures in most of the region and highs will be getting into only the 70s and 80s, according to The Weather Channel. And with Phoenix expected to see the thermometer peak around 91 degrees Thursday, it’s obvious that even the desert Southwest is contributing less cooling load than before. Meanwhile, across the northern U.S. and Canada it’s feeling more like the coolness of mid to late October than just after the middle of September.

Thursday morning’s storage report for the week ending Sept. 15 is likely to put more downward pressure on prices, since consensus expectations of an injection around 90 Bcf, if borne out, would further increase the current surplus over year-ago and five-year average levels. Reuters news service said its survey of 21 industry players found an average estimate of 90 Bcf out of a 77-99 Bcf range. Tim Evans of Citigroup said he expects a build in the range of 85-95 Bcf to be reported.

The Southern California border was up nearly a dime after SoCalGas allowed Tuesday’s high-linepack OFO to lapse Wednesday. However, to the north PG&E was replacing it with a high-linepack OFO of its own (see Transportation Notes). The PG&E citygate fell nearly a dime.

There’s not a whole lot of demand anywhere, said a Texas-based marketer. He allowed that with overnight lows in the 40s in the Midwest, there might be some people with their heaters on, but said it obviously wasn’t enough to keep gas prices from eroding further. He saw little chance of a cash rally anytime soon.

Although there has been talk of production shut-ins prompted by storage facilities reaching their maximum capacity before the traditional end-of-October close of injection season, the marketer said he isn’t hearing any producers talking about such a possibility. “It’s always a matter of price,” he said, adding that people will do whatever they have to, including accepting lower prices, to find a home for their gas.

Although bidweek doesn’t officially get started until next week, the marketer said he had seen some small Chicago citygate volumes traded for October at basis of minus 9-8 cents. It was being offered at minus 7.5 cents Thursday on an online trading service, he reported. He also said he has done some Northern Natural-demarc deals at minus 40.5 cents basis.

On the Atlantic storm front, Gordon had become extratropical and was downgraded to a tropical storm after lashing the Azores Islands. The National Hurricane Center said it would post no further advisories on Gordon after Wednesday afternoon. Hurricane Helene had made the predicted turn northward that would keep it several hundred miles east of Bermuda.

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