Waning

The blast of cold air that descended through the Midwest into much of the South at midweek last week would be waning to some extent during the weekend. So despite a moderate amount of prior-day futures support, the brief decline of heating load combined with the usual weekend dip of industrial demand to push cash prices lower across the board Friday.

California Gov. Jerry Brown is unleashing what may be a major political battle in the waning days of the state legislative session over whether to extend an energy surcharge that provides up to $400 million for research and development (R&D) in energy saving and alternative energy. Brown is trying to make the case that the $1-2 monthly charge on residential utility bills is a job-creating mechanism.

Although the odds for a Lower 48 gasline originating in Alaska’s North Slope appear to be waning, the state has choices to consider for serving the needs of consumers in the interior and Southcentral regions of the state.

Interest in the Haynesville Shale shows no sign of waning anytime soon. Last week came three more big announcements to expand pipeline capacity from the natural gas shale play.

Heating load is waning a bit in some regions, but the cash market still managed to find enough weather-based demand — along with getting modest support from a prior-day increase of 5.4 cents by November futures — to post strong double-digit gains across the board Tuesday.

Waning La Nina conditions and a continued warm water cycle in the Atlantic Basin will cause the number of storms to be slightly above average and increase the chance that storms will hit the United States during the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season, according to chief long-range forecaster Joe Bastardi and his AccuWeather.com team.

Waning La Nina conditions and a continued warm water cycle in the Atlantic Basin increase the chance that storms will hit the United States during the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season, chief long-range forecaster Joe Bastardi and his AccuWeather.com team said Friday. Bastardi and Andover, MA-based WSI Corp., which issued a separate tropical storm forecast last week, each said those same trends will bring an above average hurricane season.

Waning cooling load in several areas combined with the previous day’s gas futures decline of nearly 23 cents produced losses at most points Wednesday. As they have several times since the beginning of June, the Rockies were conspicuous in going against the grain of the overall cash market with hefty increases up to $1.20.

Once again taking their cue more from prior-day screen movement than from waning weather support, cash prices reversed direction Thursday for the third time in as many days by recording increases at virtually all points.