Citygate

In what might be a sign of things to come, natural gas futures moved higher, in spite of weekly physical natural gas prices continuing lower. The NGI Weekly Spot Gas Average fell 11 cents to $1.60, but January futures jumped over 25 cents.

Physical natural gas for delivery Thursday slumped in Wednesday trading as strength at Marcellus points and California was unable to overcome weakness at most other market points.

Natural gas for delivery Tuesday managed to hold steady in Monday trading as declines in the Northeast were just able to offset broad-based gains at most market points.

Physical natural gas for Wednesday delivery, on average, gained ground in Tuesday’s trading as supportive power prices and forecasts of increased power demand provided a firm foundation to make power generation purchases.

The tale of two markets Tuesday reversed itself from Monday, with physical natural gas taking some hard punches and futures holding steady at least for the moment.

In spite of the fact the calendar says this is the high-demand period for natural gas, physical traders for weekend and Monday delivery elected to pass on three-day deals and instead rely on the ease of electronic communications to make incremental purchases should the need arise.

While most natural gas market points for the week ended Dec. 4 managed to show gains, a relatively small number in the Rockies, Northeast,andCalifornia registered losses and pulled the national average barely into the loss column. The NGI Weekly Spot GasAverageshed 2 cents to $2.07.

Next-day gas gained in Monday’s trading as buyers for near-term supplies prepared for a winter blast expected to send cold temperatures as far south as Oklahoma by Thanksgiving. Weakness in the Midwest, Midcontinent and Gulf was countered by strength in the East, Rockies and California.

Physical natural gas for weekend and Monday delivery was unchanged Friday as traders made sure they got their deals done prior to the typically volatility-enhancing weekly storage report.