Mixed

After last week ended with two straight days of across the board declines, mixed price movement returned to the market Monday. Further drops dominated in the Gulf Coast and Northeast and to some degree in the Midwest. Quotes were mostly higher in the Midcontinent and West.

Following four days of mixed price movement, Friday’s cash market emulated the one a week earlier in which all points recorded drops. Cooling load was due to fall during the weekend in some key power generation markets for gas; the screen had provided strongly negative guidance the day before with a 32-cent dive by September futures, and the usual weekend loss of industrial load was another factor in the softness.

Mixed price movement continued in the cash market Tuesday, but this time it was higher numbers that predominated. Temperatures closer to summer norms are returning Wednesday to the western end of the South and will be rising in sections of New England, although generally New England weather will still be fairly mild. The cash market also was supported by the previous day’s 10.1-cent advance by September futures and by news of potential tropical storm activity.

Mixed price movement returned to the market Monday — barely — following Friday’s all-points losses. But only a few locations managed to be flat to as much as about 19 cents higher as softness continued to dominate cash quotes. The 32.3-cent decline by September futures Friday, coupled with an overall dearth of major cooling load outside the interior West, kept prices falling at a large majority of points.

Continued declines were dominant in mixed price movement Monday as weather-based load was fairly light in most areas. Heat levels remained high in much of the West but were declining in inland California from pre-weekend highs. Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) helped boost Rockies numbers by officially scheduling deliveries to Panhandle Eastern in Missouri for Tuesday.

Reflecting fairly light weather-based demand in several areas and a small prior-day futures drop, cash prices were mixed and close to unchanged in most cases Wednesday. However, a SoCalGas OFO induced larger declines at the border and in the Southwest basins.

In a way the Thursday cash market was much like Wednesday’s — mixed price movement with many points flat or close to it. The big difference was that whereas a majority of quotes were lower the day before, gains predominated Thursday. Cooling trends were due to continue Friday in the Northeast and Rockies (and to a small degree in the Midwest), thus boosting heating load, and Wednesday’s 15.3-cent increase by April futures provided extra support to the cash market Thursday.

The cash market took a midweek breather following two days of mostly strong gains at nearly all points. Wednesday’s quotes were mixed but predominately to the downside, with many points flat or close to it in either direction. Cooling trends Thursday in the Northeast, Midwest and Rockies are keeping heating load fairly sizeable, but it is likely that with the traditional end of storage withdrawal season less than a week away, mandatory withdrawal ratchets are starting to supplant spot gas purchases more than before.

March natural gas futures soared higher Thursday on a propellant derived from economic concerns mixed with colder-leaning forecasts. Not even a sub-200 Bcf natural gas storage withdrawal report could deter the prompt-month contract’s spike, which reached a high of $8.810 before settling the day at $8.772, up 38.4 cents from Wednesday’s close.