“No storm hype here,” a Gulf Coast producer said Friday morning in classic understatement. Usually the approach of a tropical storm toward the Gulf of Mexico production area is a surefire guarantee of higher gas prices, but it was not to be this time. Despite the likelihood of increasing offshore shut-ins over the weekend, traders sent cash prices lower by anywhere from a couple of cents to nearly 30 cents at border-SoCalGas; most declines were on either side of a dime.

Tropical Storm Barry had weakened overnight and was drifting slowly westward. It was about 180 miles southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River, the National Weather Service said in its 4 p.m. CDT update. A tropical storm watch was in effect for southeastern Louisiana from the mouth of the Pearl River to Morgan City, but the watch could be upgraded to a warning later Friday night, NWS said.

Generally there was little production impact from Barry being reported during the day Friday. However, late that afternoon Texas Eastern said it had lost about 90 MMcf/d of offshore volumes in the East Louisiana Zone due to shut-ins and El Paso said it had shut down its Viacosa Knoll gathering system to the tune of 500 MMcf/d. El Paso’s Southern Natural also shut in about 100 MMcf/d. Tetco said it had initiated “commensurate” cuts of markets for the gas days of Saturday through today and would make additional cuts if more supply went offline.

Sonat confirmed that the following receipt points had been shut in: Main Pass 138, Mississippi Canyon 20 and West Delta 152. Transco said it had experienced “minimal production losses,” mostly in the deeper waters offshore Louisiana and Mississippi, but they had no operational impact. Tennessee said it had seen no shut-ins as of early afternoon.

Although falling prices in a storm situation baffled more than one source, it wasn’t really all that surprising, others said. Even if Barry does cause substantial shut-ins offshore, “there’s still plenty of gas from other sources looking for a home,” a marketer observed. “We’d have to lose an awful lot of Gulf of Mexico gas to make an impact.” In addition, the storage refill has been so rapid this year that many traders wouldn’t hesitate to withdraw gas to make up for any storm losses, he said.

Another trader had this rationale for softness: storm-caused “rain kills the [air conditioning] demand.” That was borne out by Florida Gas Transmission, which told shippers it might have to issue an Underage Alert Day notice for Saturday because overall linepack was high due to its market area “experiencing very rainy weather” since the soon-to-be Barry had formed as a tropical wave earlier in the week. FGT had been under a low-linepack Overage Alert Day notice Monday and Tuesday due to high market-area temperatures.

Though far removed from the Barry-influenced market, a western marketer saw an extra reason for Gulf tropical storms to have less price-boosting effect than previously. Over the years more and more offshore producers have been installing remote-control operations on their platforms, so even if employees need to be evacuated, the gas doesn’t necessarily have to be shut in, he said.

Outside the Gulf Coast, markets saw price declines largely resulting from a screen plunge of more than 20 cents and moderating heat in many areas. A Chicago trader said there was “no market to be found” after 9 a.m. CDT Friday. However, he anticipates a rebound this week because of predictions for very hot weather returning to the Midwest.

An aggregator attributed a significant drop in his normal California volume largely to the usual slump in weekend demand. Another western trader said she saw a little run-up in Pacific Northwest numbers for a while, but they were falling back again in late deals.

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