Averages

Rocky Mountains points tanked to averages of about a dollar or less Monday. ICE said a CIG deal was done on its electronic on-line system at 15 cents, which would tie NGI’s all-time record for lowest price; however, the lowest Rockies prices Monday that could be confirmed by the NGI price table were 30 cents at Cheyenne Hub and Questar.

Four straight days of increases on the Nymex set the stage for a significant cash market rebound Wednesday. Daily averages approached the $4.90s in New England and were largely back above $4 in the Rockies except for Northwest Pipeline and Questar. Kingsgate and Station 2 in British Columbia remained below $4.

Fighting off a slightly bearish storage report when compared to historical averages, the September natural gas futures contract resisted an early push lower to trade higher at midday Thursday. When it was all said and done, September futures — trading in its first day as the prompt month — gained 3.8 cents to close at $6.18.

Despite severe erosion of Nymex futures prices for natural gas, crude oil, heating oil and Appalachian coal Monday morning, cash gas numbers refused to “follow the screen.” Cash quotes ranged from flat to a few cents higher or lower in most market areas. Rockies points were recovering from Friday’s plunge that had a few priced below a dollar for a while. Deals for CIG, Cheyenne Hub and Questar gas could still be found in the $0.90s Monday, but generally they were in the $1.00s, according to a couple of marketers.

The cash market was a mix of ups and downs as far as priceaverages went Thursday, but sources agreed that the overall trendwas downward as trading proceeded through the morning. Flat quotesdominated again at many points, while sizeable gains and losseswere scattered.

Except in the Northeast, cash price averages showed littlemovement yesterday as strong demand fought bearish weather to astandstill. Despite the lack of “real winter weather,” as onesource put it, the cash market’s recent resiliency had many tradersdisplaying quiet confidence about the market’s chances to maintainits bullish trend heading into the weekend.