Constituted

Losses constituted a moderate majority in a mixed market Thursday as most points were less than a nickel up or down from unchanged. Several of the Northeast citygates that had spiked so hugely Tuesday continued multi-dollar slides that brought them back to the general vicinity of their pre-holiday price levels.

One of two problematic liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal proposals in Oregon took a step backward when a newly constituted local county elected board voted 4-1 to rescind approval for a pipeline that would connect Oregon LNG’s proposed terminal along the Columbia River at Warrenton, OR, with the metropolitan Portland area.

Pacific Gas & Electric did not extend a systemwide high-inventory OFO beyond Thursday.

Flat to about 20 cents lower at five Northeast market locations and NOVA Inventory Transfer (NIT) constituted the only exceptions to a firming cash market Tuesday. Cash prices had a supportive prior-day increase of 11.2 cents by February futures, but the chief reason for Tuesday’s gains at all other points was what the Weather 2000 consulting firm called the “most frigid arctic air yet of [the] season” currently pouring into the central U.S. from Canada.

A couple of flat points and one in the Midcontinent that rose about a nickel constituted the only exceptions to a continuation of falling cash prices in Wednesday’s launch of the March aftermarket. Moderate to cool weather forecasts for many areas and prior-day futures weakness were responsible for the overriding softness.

A federal warrant was issued Thursday for the arrest of a single suspect identified as being involved in at least one of two incidents of tampering with Western Grid transmission tower footings about 150 miles apart in southeast Oregon and northern California last Monday.

Plunges in New England citygates and mild firmness in the Rockies constituted the extremes in an overall market Tuesday that saw most points range from flat to down about 20 cents. A solid majority of the declines were small at less than a dime.