Moderation

For the third day in a row, flat pricing dominated the cash market Thursday. A bit of approaching moderation of winter weather in the Northeast was approximately balanced by the previous day’s strength throughout Nymex’s energy futures group.

Prices were mixed but mostly down a few cents Tuesday as traders weighed weather moderation in some areas against colder trends in others. A Calgary-based producer said he had “thought we would pull back further from these price levels, but it seems to be a day of consolidation in the market.”

The cash market reacted as expected to Monday’s futures weakness and further declines in fundamental weather support, registering drops between about a nickel and 20 cents at nearly all points Tuesday. Those in the range of 10-15 cents formed a slight majority.

A moderation of recently severe winter weather in several market areas is still on the way, but the cold retained enough grip Tuesday to spur small gains of about a nickel or less at a majority of points. Citygates in the Northeast were joined by Florida deliveries in recording larger advances, while western points were mostly flat to 3-4 cents lower.

As many traders had expected, the moderation of cold weather ineastern markets and the screen’s expiration-day dive were enough todrive the late-March swing market sharply lower in nearly all casesThursday. Only new increases at the Southern California border andPG&E citygate defied the overall downtrend.

Siding with New Jersey Ratepayer Advocate Blossom Peretz’spleadings for moderation, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities(BPU) at a special meeting last week granted provisional approvalto three utilities for minimum requested rate increases that wouldpass on the rising commodity cost of natural gas.

Siding with New Jersey Ratepayer Advocate Blossom Peretz’spleadings for moderation, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities(BPU) at a special meeting yesterday granted provisional approvalto three utilities for the minimum requested rate increase to passon the rising commodity cost of natural gas. New Jersey NaturalGas (NJNG) received the 16% it petitioned for, but ElizabethtownGas (ETG) and Public Service Electric and Gas Co. (PSE&G)received far less than requested.