Heating

With some support from the previous Friday’s futures advance, the cash market was finding enough increases in colder weather either already in place or imminent to realize gains at a sizeable majority of locations the board Monday.

The Marcellus Shale could hold as much as 500 Tcf of natural gas, according to some. That gas is conveniently close to markets in the Midwest and Northeast; however, the natural gas liquids (NGL) associated with some Marcellus production are far from what is considered to be their ideal home, namely the U.S. Gulf Coast. And that’s a problem, analysts have noted lately.

The natural gas market is in “good shape” as it heads into the 2010-2011 winter heating season due to the influx of shale gas, which has reshaped the industry, and the addition of new pipeline capacity to access the lower-priced supplies, said a FERC analyst Thursday.

The reality of seasonal autumn weather — with both heating and cooling load on the low side — began to exact a more bearish influence on the market Thursday, with most points falling by 2-3 cents to about 15 cents. Most numbers were close to flat, with other points ranging from unchanged to nearly a dime higher.

Temperatures mild to cool virtually everywhere, but heating load remains fairly scarce.

Prices fell across the board Friday as the continuing dearth of either heating or cooling load, the previous day’s 9-cent futures drop and the usual weekend dip of industrial demand combined to soften the cash market. The lack of any credible tropical storm threat to offshore production was another bearish factor.

As a marketer had predicted a day earlier, the 6.2-cent drop by futures combined with a lack of heating load in nearly all areas would be sufficient to cause mostly small losses in the cash market Tuesday.

As a marketer had predicted a day earlier, the 6.2-cent drop by futures combined with a lack of heating load in nearly all areas would be sufficient to cause mostly small losses in the cash market Tuesday.

With the official start of spring only three days away, lack of heating demand softens market.