Softness

Prices ranged from flat to down a little more than a dime in nearly all cases Wednesday; however, San Juan Basin numbers plunged by 40 cents. Most of the declines were fairly small at around a nickel or less.

As sources had anticipated, Wednesday’s stall in this week’s bull market led to softer prices Thursday. A majority of losses were in the vicinity of a dime, but others ranged from only 1-2 cents down at a couple of Gulf Coast points to a drop of more than 30 cents at Transco’s Zone 6-NYC.

Despite widespread mild weather that argued for continued softness, most of the cash market managed to pull out of this week’s downhill slide Thursday and post remarkably consistent flat numbers. Only the Rockies, and to a lesser degree Northeast citygates and Columbia-Appalachia, recorded declines of more than a couple of pennies.

With milder weather reaching as far as the Southeast and energy futures back on a downward slope, it was virtually inevitable that cash prices continued to slide Wednesday at nearly all points. Besides the above factors, sources said the soft market also was reflecting what some believe will be a relatively big storage injection report Thursday morning for a period covering record-setting heat and electricity demand.

Not even a burst of activity in what has so far been a quiet 2002 Atlantic hurricane season was able to support prices Monday. Except for mild upticks in California and the holiday-limited intra-Alberta market, along with a smidgen of flatness in the Northeast, most points fell between about a nickel and 30 cents. The larger declines tended to cluster in the Rockies, but Transco Zone 6-New York City continued to descend from last week’s stratospheric heights with a plunge of more than 40 cents to land it back in place with other Northeast quotes in the $3.20s.

As sources had anticipated, forecasts of high temperatures once again infesting much of the nation were insufficient to overcome the double drag on prices of a big futures drop on the previous afternoon and the fall-off in industrial load that accompanies a weekend. Outside of continuing moderate firmness at Rockies and Pacific Northwest points, the rest of Friday’s market ranged from flat to about 20 cents lower. Declines on either side of a dime were most prevalent.

As sources had anticipated, forecasts of high temperatures once again infesting much of the nation were insufficient to overcome the double drag on prices of a big futures drop on the previous afternoon and the fall-off in industrial load that accompanies a weekend. Outside of continuing moderate firmness at Rockies and Pacific Northwest points, the rest of Friday’s market ranged from flat to about 20 cents lower. Declines on either side of a dime were most prevalent.

On a day that had virtually all traders mesmerized by the hemorrhaging of merchant energy values on Wall Street (see related stories), cash gas prices were mostly lower by small amounts Tuesday. Mild gains of a nickel or less at a few western points (intra-Alberta, Sumas and Kern River) were the exceptions to flat to as much as 40 cents lower (Transco Zone 6-NYC) numbers elsewhere.

On a day that had virtually all traders mesmerized by the hemorrhaging of merchant energy values on Wall Street (see related stories), cash gas prices were mostly lower by small amounts Tuesday. Mild gains of a nickel or less at a few western points (intra-Alberta, Sumas and Kern River) were the exceptions to flat to as much as 40 cents lower (Transco Zone 6-NYC) numbers elsewhere.