Buffeted

Buffeted by prior-day futures weakness, the lack of any tropical threat to offshore production and generally moderate temperatures for early July in many areas, cash prices fell by double-digit amounts at all points Friday. The usual weekend layoff of industrial load also played a bearish role.

The eastern United States, which has been buffeted by colder-than-normal temperatures and a series of snowstorms this winter, will remain under the thumb of colder-than-normal weather for the next three months, while the West can expect warmer-than-normal temperatures through May, according to the latest seasonal forecast from Andover, MA-based WSI Corp.

The eastern United States, which has been buffeted by colder-than-normal temperatures and a series of snowstorms this winter, will remain under the thumb of colder-than-normal weather for the next three months, while the West can expect warmer-than-normal temperatures through May, according to the latest seasonal forecast from Andover, MA-based WSI Corp.

The eastern United States, which has been buffeted by colder-than-normal temperatures and a series of snowstorms this winter, will remain under the thumb of colder-than-normal weather for the next three months, while the West can expect warmer-than-normal temperatures through May, according to the latest seasonal forecast from Andover, MA-based WSI Corp.

Buffeted once again by a screen plunge the day before and still finding weather-related demand hard to come by, the cash market continued to see prices fall in most cases Friday. However, flat to nearly a dime higher numbers at the Southern California border and a few Midcontinent/Midwest points averted a clean sweep of softness.

Aside from a series of Pacific rainstorms and wind that buffeted all of the West Coast over the New Year’s holiday, Pacific Gas and Electric Company said late last Friday its residential natural gas utility customers could expect a 43.5% rate hike this month compared to January 2005. PG&G’s utility attributed Midwest and Northeast storms last month for “significantly” increasing wholesale natural gas prices, meaning its average retail gas bill would be about $156/month in January.

The rout was on Tuesday in the cash market. Buffeted by a fairlybenign weather outlook, both near-term and for the transitionperiod into February, and a plunging screen, prices fell betweenabout 50 cents and a dollar at almost every point. Malin’s declineof about 15 cents spotlighted it as relatively firmer than the restof a very weak market.