Except

The cash market continued to slide lower Thursday with prices mostly dropping less than a nickel, except in the northeast, which recorded a handful of double-digit drops. Midwest points were only modestly lower, while a few spots in the Rockies and in California managed to tally gains.

Next-day gas prices continued to erode Thursday except for in the Northeast, where a handful of points picked up between 10 to 20 cents. Weakness was widespread but was most pronounced at Wyoming points and locations eastward into the Midcontinent. Increases in the Northeast were only partially able to offset the general decline. Futures bears were pleased with the 10:30 a.m. EST storage report, which showed a withdrawal somewhat less than expectations.

Most cash market points gained a few cents, lost a few cents or stood unchanged Wednesday, except for deliveries into the Northeast, where a handful of points posted double-digit gains due to cooler weather. Futures elected to go their own way and closed higher. At the closing bell April futures had risen 9.7 cents to $2.616 and May had improved 8.3 cents to $2.710. April crude oil rose 52 cents to $107.07/bbl.

Physical gas prices rose Tuesday for Wednesday delivery mostly between a couple of pennies to just shy of a dime, except for eastern points, some of which declined by nearly 20 cents. Futures caught a bid as rumors of more production cuts circulated and nuclear outages posted a five-year high. March rose 10.1 cents to $2.532 and April gained 8 cents to $2.700. March crude oil slipped 17 cents to $100.74/bbl.

Cash prices on Friday rose throughout the country except for in the Northeast following Thursday’s strength in futures, but the March contract eased as the market couldn’t shake the stranglehold of moderate weather and plump storage.

Futures managed to continue bounding higher Wednesday, but the physical market saw only modest gains around the country except for spots in the Northeast, which fell mostly between 25-45 cents.

Gross withdrawals of natural gas increased 1.1% (0.72 Bcf/d) in the Lower 48 states during September, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). All areas except for the federal offshore Gulf of Mexico (GOM) produced more to make for the seventh monthly gain in a row, while lower 48 withdrawals achieved a record high of 70.4 Bcf/d in September, up 6.9% from September 2010. Overall, U.S. withdrawals climbed 3.5% (2.66 Bcf/d) in September from August to 79.13 Bcf/d and were up nearly 6% from the year-ago period, according to EIA’s Monthly Natural Gas Production Report. Wyoming posted the largest gain at 9.2% (0.55 Bcf/d) as production resumed after maintenance on a gas plant. In contrast, the GOM offshore dropped 13.5% (minus 0.65 Bcf/d), which was largely a result of Tropical Storm Lee. Gross withdrawals are not the same as marketed production, which is calculated by subtracting gas used for repressuring, quantities vented and flared and non-hydrocarbon gases removed in treating or processing operations from gross withdrawals.

Gross withdrawals of natural gas increased 1.1% (0.72 Bcf/d) in the Lower 48 states during September, according to the latest government figures. All areas except for the federal offshore Gulf of Mexico (GOM) produced more to make for the seventh monthly gain in a row, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Predictions of moderate temperatures in most areas — except for freezing lows in much of Canada, just on the other side of the border and occasionally in sections of the Rockies — along with the additional loss of industrial load associated with a holiday weekend and fulfilled anticipation of continued storage injections prompted sizeable cash market declines across the board Sunday.