Citygate

Natural gas prices had the trajectory of a coyote in a Saturday morning cartoon for the week ended Feb. 19. Not one market point traded in positive territory and after the dust settled the NGI Weekly Spot Gas Average was down a not-so-healthy 54 cents to $1.77.

Now that the brutal, but short-lived, cold has left eastern markets, traders find themselves readjusting cash positions and looking ahead to a weather and storage environment that is seen weak at best.

Physical natural gas for delivery Wednesday followed the cue from the screen and traded lower Tuesday.

Physical natural gas traders were reluctant Thursday to make deals after the release of Energy Information Administration (EIA) storage data, and, with the exception of the Northeast, gas for Friday delivery at all points moved lower.

Following the across-the-board drubbing physical natural gas market values took on Thursday for Friday through the weekend delivery, trading on Friday for Monday flow scored healthy gains across the nation except for a few outliers in the volatile Northeast.

Next-day gas weakened in trading Monday, led by declines in the Northeast approaching a half dollar. A weak power environment made incremental purchases of gas for power generation less appealing, and gains in the Rocky Mountains and California were unable to offset not only soft eastern pricing, but also broad weakness in the Gulf, Midwest, and Midcontinent.

Buyers weren’t taking any chances Friday in acquiring supplies of weekend and Monday gas. Weather forecasts called for a frosty start to the week, and in major eastern markets restrictions helped boost prices by close to $1.

Futures and cash raced each other higher in trading for the week ended January 8, with the February futures squeaking out a narrow half-cent margin over a strong cash market.

Physical natural gas prices bounded higher on Monday for Tuesday trading as temperature outlooks in major eastern and Midwest population centers either held seasonal norms, or in the near term were forecast to drop below normal by, in some instances, double-digits.