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With midweek heat staying fairly strong in nearly all areas — especially the West — and with extra support from a prior-day screen spike of nearly half a dollar, cash quotes again rose by sizeable double-digit amounts at all points Tuesday.

Spot prices at the Henry Hub could drop below $4/MMBtu near the end of the injection season as many gas storage fields could reach their maximum capacity, Energy and Environmental Analysis Inc. (EEA) said Tuesday, echoing the predictions of some analysts and regulators but contrasting with recent comments from analysts at Raymond James & Associates (see Daily GPI, June 20). However, EEA also said gas prices are likely to “rebound significantly as soon as winter heating load develops.”

As the gas futures market continued to fall Monday, approaching the $6/MMBtu area, eastern cash markets tumbled another 25-45 cents on below-normal temperatures and plenty of rain. Perhaps the best bearish indication available was the 40-cent price drop in the New England market despite the complete shut-down of the Sable Offshore Energy Project’s 400 MMcf/d of gas production.

Citing forecasts of single-digit system weighted temperatures and below-zero lows at most reporting stations in its market area, Northern Natural Gas issued a System Overrun Limitation that will take effect Thursday for all market-area zones (ABC, D and E/F). It set System Management Services percentages (imbalance tolerances) of 25% for all zones.

Reporting that recent takes have been significantly below nominations, El Paso said it is experiencing “excessively high linepack” and that its Washington Ranch storage facility is injecting at maximum capacity. Urging shippers to bring their supplies into balance with their takes, the pipeline said that if the situation fails to improve, it may need to declare a Strained Operating Condition.

As a result of market-area temperatures changing dramatically “with significantly below normal temperatures expected for the next several days,” Transco ended Thursday an Imbalance OFO that had been implemented Tuesday (see Daily GPI, Nov. 15).

Coming in slightly below historical comparisons but above most industry estimates, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported Thursday morning that 94 Bcf was injected into underground storage for the week ended July 8.

While the energy industry had been expecting a below-normal storage injection for last week, they weren’t expecting it to be as low as it turned out to be. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported Thursday morning that only 73 Bcf was put into underground natural gas storage for the week ended June 10.

A sixth consecutive below-normal water year for the Pacific Northwest carries more financial than operating impact on the region and the greater Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) grid system covering 12 states, according to a “Hydro Update” report by Fitch Ratings released earlier this month.