Returned

Unity in price direction returned to the cash market Monday as all points rose in response to somewhat colder-than-expected weather forecasts and the previous Wednesday’s 17.3-cent advance by January futures. Last Wednesday’s report of a 147 Bcf storage withdrawal for the week ending Dec. 19, which exceeded consensus expectations, and the restoration of industrial load following a long holiday weekend added to cash bullishness Monday.

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.

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.

Spot gas prices were up — but relatively moderately outside some sections of the West — at most points Monday as traders returned to their offices to find Tropical Storm Edouard had sprung up offshore southeast Louisiana during the preceding afternoon. In fact, the big rally Monday that had been predicted going into the weekend (see Daily GPI, Aug. 4) due to forecasts of major heat in much of the U.S. was rapidly fizzling with prices tending to retreat as trading proceeded, a couple of sources said.

Sea Robin Pipeline lifted at the start of Monday’s gas day an OFO that had been issued late Friday afternoon for all receipt points. System pressures had returned to an acceptable operating range, Sea Robin said.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger returned somewhat to the Republican fold Wednesday, praising President Bush for acknowledging that the nation and world have a climate change problem. But he reminded the president he has now also said the nation has a responsibility to do something to help fix the problem.

In spite of frigid weather remaining in place throughout much of the U.S. and Canada and prior-day screen support having returned the day before, prices were in retreat at most Gulf Coast, Midwest and Northeast points Tuesday. However, the Midcontinent and West continued to advance in nearly all cases, which was hardly surprising considering Wednesday lows are expected to range from the 20s and 30s to single digits in those regions.

A couple of Northeast citygates averaged more than $37 Wednesday as prices rose at all points — mostly by large amounts. Traders returned from the long New Year’s weekend to find much of the U.S. and Canada enduring deep-freeze conditions that were most intense in the eastern halves of both nations and could be expected to last into Thursday.

Uniform price movement nearly returned to the spot market Thursday. Only flat quotes for NGPL Amarillo Mainline and Cheyenne Hub kept all points from recording declines. Modest warming trends in the South and Northeast combined with the fact that Thursday’s trading covered the weekend through Monday — with the accompanying decline of industrial load — to induce the overall softness.