Prices for the concluding weekend of February maintained thesoftening trend that had started earlier in the week, ranging fromflat to a little over a dime lower. And although swing gas tradedFriday for today’s flow only was flat at a few points, most sourcesagreed that the initial March aftermarket was trending downwardoverall from both bidweek indexes and weekend levels.
Started
Articles from Started
Prices Down in Incremental, Bidweek Trading
The slippery slope on which cash prices started sliding earlierthis week got steeper Thursday. As on Wednesday, the softness wasbeing felt in both the late-February incremental and March bidweekmarkets.
Northeast Rise Stands Out Amid More Flatness
With the Houston trade fair ended, the cash market startedreturning to normal Friday. And continuing the pattern seen formost of February, “normal” meant essentially flat pricing. Butsigns of weakening were more evident as small downticks notablyincreased in frequency. Some of the softness was attributable tothe normal weekend drops in gas demand.
Technical Support Shields March Futures
Natural gas futures trading at the New York Mercantile Exchangestarted the week slightly on the down side Monday, as bearishfundamentals once again set the tone for a weaker trading session.The March Futures contract opened down 4.2 cents from Friday’ssettle, and continued the day trading in a tight 5-cent range toclose down 3.3 cents at $1.744. “As far as fundamentals areconcerned, the outlook looks bearish for this contract,” one tradersaid. “You have extremely mild weather and no support at Nymex and,certainly, storage numbers are still significant.”
TransColorado Tests Phase 2, Expects First Flows in Feb.
TransColorado Gas Transmission started pressuring up it Phase 2extension into western Colorado last week and expects to begintransportation services from the northern Rockies to the San JuanBasin some time next month, pending FERC approval of its ratedesign.
Spike in Northeast Citygates Quickly Subsides
A run-up in citygate prices in the Northeast that had startedlate Wednesday afternoon was falling back rapidly by middayThursday, but not before some buyers had paid more than $3 intoTransco Zone 6-New York City. A trader reporting $3.00-$3.25 salesfor Zone 6-NYC said he had received a late offer of $2.65. TexasEastern M-3 numbers also were coming off hard, another source said.
Cash Prices Ride the Bull, Continue Upward
Cash prices started the new week on an upward note, largelymotivated by an early Nymex run-up and forecasts of colder weatherfor some major market areas. Except for Northeastern markets, spotprices at most trading points registered gains ranging anywherefrom 1 to 6 cents in the Gulf Coast area to more than 20 cents inCalifornia markets.
Cash Prices Begin Retrenchment as Predicted
As several observers expected, cash prices started to retracetheir steps back down Thursday after having peaked the day before.Declines ranged from as little as a nickel to nearly 15 cents, butmost were in the neighborhood of a dime.
Cash Markets Spike Upward Amidst Active Buying
Contrary to most expectations, cash prices started-off the newweek with an upward spike across the board, logging gains of morethan a dime – in most areas – from weekend levels. Most sourcesattributed the rise to active buying as many market players weretaking advantage of below index pricing ahead of anticipated coolertemperatures later in the week. Cash prices at some deliverypoints, such as Northern Demarc and Ventura in the Midcontinent andthe PG&E citygate in California, registered gains upwards ofmore than 20 cents.
Electronic Trading Systems Wage Price War
The two major electronic natural gas trading systems havestarted a price war, slashing transaction fees to zero at multiplelocations for the month of September. In late August, Altra EnergyTechnologies announced a “Streamline Inventory Reduction Sale,”reducing prices to 0.001 cent/MMBtu at all its major Louisiana andTexas locations and dropping fees to zero at all of its othertrading points. Soon after, QuickTrade countered by dropping feesto 0.001 cent/MMBtu for day trades at major Louisiana an Texaspoints and Chicago, and cutting costs to zero for day trades at theColumbia Gas pool and the Henry Hub.