Mild

The cash market got little support from the return of industrial load following the weekend. Instead, with a much weaker screen in Nymex’s abbreviated session Monday, and with few areas experiencing bullish weather, most points softened by up to a dime or so.

The cash market was up to its old tricks again Monday, ignoring a general lack of hot-weather support and a significantly weaker screen to post moderate gains. Most of the upticks were a dime or less. Rockies points, which had seen the largest declines going into the weekend, rebounded more strongly than others, but several Northeast citygates also saw dime-plus increases.

Prices went another few cents higher for no apparent reason yesterday. Most of Thursday’s advances ranged from a couple of cents to about a dime, but Malin, intra-Alberta and several Rockies/Pacific Northwest points tended to see larger upticks.

The cash market remained in mild softening mode for the most part Thursday. Nearly all points ranged from barely a couple of pennies higher to down about a nickel, with small declines predominating. Transco Zone 6-NYC remained the price leader, but it recorded Thursday’s biggest drop of about 30 cents as traders anticipated a weekend cooldown. California also tended to see larger downticks than other markets.

The cash market remained in a softening mode for the most part Wednesday, but only a couple of declines exceeded a dime and some points, particularly in the Rockies and at the Southern California border, registered moderate gains.

Weekend price drops were large in the West but fairly moderate at eastern and Permian/Waha points. Declines were in double digits Friday in the Rockies/San Juan/Pacific Northwest and in triple digits at all California points except Malin (which was nearly a dollar lower) as a West Coast heat wave receded and PG&E issued another OFO (see Transportation Notes). But in the East quotes tended to range from flat to down about a dime, and scattered points registered tiny gains.

Noting the mild temperatures across the country, favorable arbitrage spreads and “ambitious distributor refills,” the industry continues to “inject a significant amount of natural gas into storage,” said UBS Warburg analyst Ronald Barone last week in his weekly research note. Even though national supplies now stand at 958 Bcf versus 1,117 Bcf a year ago, Barone said he expects to see the storage deficit drop and perhaps post a surplus by this summer.

Noting the mild temperatures across the country, favorable arbitrage spreads and “ambitious distributor refills,” the industry continues to “inject a significant amount of natural gas into storage,” said UBS Warburg analyst Ronald Barone last week in his weekly research note. Even though national supplies now stand at 958 Bcf versus 1,117 Bcf a year ago, Barone said he expects to see the storage deficit drop and perhaps post a surplus by this summer.

Due to mild weather in its market area and high linepack, Florida Gas Transmission issued an Underage Alert Day notice Tuesday with 10% tolerance for positive daily imbalances.