Ranged

Losing both a bit of air conditioning load and residual futures support, prices saw double-digit declines that ranged as high as half a dollar at a majority of points Tuesday. The West, where a heat wave has come on strongly in a region that had experienced mostly cool to moderate temperatures prior to this week, and the still-torrid Midcontinent cornered the market on points that were flat to less than a dime lower.

Mixed pricing returned to the market Wednesday. Western points generally ranged from flat to down nearly 30 cents, although Sumas and intra-Alberta managed small gains. The East had a few declines, mostly in South Texas, the Midcontinent and Northeast, amid overall numbers ranging from flat to a little more than a dime higher.

As traders had predicted, a continuing drop in heating load resulted in falling prices across the board Friday. The losses ranged from a little more than a nickel to about 45 cents, with Northeast citygates taking the biggest hits.

With just a smidgen of mild softness in the mix, prices mostly ranged from flat to up about 15 cents Monday. A clear majority of gains were in single digits. Forecasts calling for chilly to cold but hardly severe weather in much of the U.S. and Canada this week — seasonable conditions, in other words — plus returning industrial load after the weekend were chiefly responsible for the modest rally.

Thursday’s explosion of prices in which gains ranged from about 30 cents to 90 cents (Algonquin citygate) left quite a few traders befuddled and groping for an explanation. Several were able to offer suggestions about potential contributing factors, but added that they didn’t believe their suggestion alone rationalized the big gains. “Beats me” was the essence of most answers.

It was mild, but a rally nonetheless. With a new spate of cold weather approaching the Midwest and Northeast, prices ranged from flat to up about 15 cents Tuesday. Not counting the Southwest basins, the West saw most of the flat to barely higher or lower numbers.

With the exception of a couple of flat Midwest citygates, prices ranged from barely lower to down more than 30 cents at the Southern California border Friday. Sources cited new forecasts indicating less severe cold weather over the weekend and this week as the chief factor in market weakness.

Sonat implemented an OFO Type 6 Saturday, effective until further notice. Tiered penalties ranged from $1/Dth to $15/Dth for positive daily imbalances exceeding a 2% tolerance; no penalties would be assessed for imbalances up to 2% or under 200 dekatherms, whichever was less. “As is our procedure everyday, we will be force balancing during the OFO,” it added. Sonat also said it is not accepting requests for interruptible services that rely on storage injections or requests for make-up gas due the pipeline.

Sonat implemented an OFO Type 6 effective Saturday until further notice. Tiered penalties ranged from $1 to $15 per dekatherm for shippers running positive daily imbalances in excess of a tolerance of 2% or 200 dekatherms, whichever was greater.