weather

The current weakness in natural gas prices and the commodity’s de-linking from crude oil is due to more than just a cool summer, according to a New York, NY-based independent research firm.

The current weakness in natural gas prices and the commodity’s de-linking from crude oil is due to more than just a cool summer, according to a New York, NY-based independent research firm.

Moderate softening continued in the swing market Thursday for the most part, but points here and there were flat or eked out tiny gains. Except for some lingering chill in the Upper Plains, Rockies and Western Canada, temperatures were converging toward pleasant levels appropriate for mid-spring in nearly all other regions (cooler in the Southwest and warmer in the Northeast). However, a cold front was due to move into the Midwest by the weekend.

Despite moderating weather and falling cash prices, the natural gas futures market trudged cautiously higher Tuesday in light trading volume. The April contract finished the session up 4.5 cents at $5.438. The out months followed suit, achieving lesser gains of 3-4 cents. At 47,533, estimated volume was weak and confirms the lack of consensus over the next price leg.

In a variation of the springtime weather idiom, it was the April futures contract that came in like a lion this year. Following March’s lamb-like behavior as prompt contract, trading roared back to life Thursday and Friday as buyers bid up April futures on the bullish combination of storage and technicals.

Forecasts of cold weather in the northern half of Florida Friday night and Saturday morning prompted Florida Gas Transmission to issue an Overage Alert Day notice for its market area Friday. The notice had 20% tolerance for negative daily imbalances.

Due to forecasts of near-freezing weather in the northern half of Florida Wednesday night and Thursday morning, Florida Gas Transmission issued an Overage Alert Day notice for its market area Wednesday. The tolerance for negative daily imbalances was 20%.

After bending, but not completely breaking lower on the news that a paltry 52 Bcf was pulled from underground storage facilities last week, natural gas futures prices rebounded Thursday in sympathy with frigid temperatures and spiking cash prices. The February contract finished at $7.094, up 21.6 cents for the session.

Citing weather conditions, Tennessee postponed the completion date of a 526A-600 Line outage to next Wednesday. Physical flows at six offshore meters have been suspended during the outage.