Weekend

The cash market continued to build on the weekend price gains with new upticks Monday that were generally in single digits at most eastern points but ranged from about a dime to more than 40 cents (San Juan-Blanco) in the Northeast and much of the West.

Bullied by revised intermediate-term weather outlooks and feeding off a delayed reaction to supportive storage data issued Thursday, natural gas futures finished the week on a positive note as prices rallied to new two-week highs Friday.

After lifting an Overage Alert Day notice for the Oct. 26-27 weekend, Florida Gas Transmission declared a new OAD notice Monday with 20% tolerance for negative daily imbalances.

After pressuring prices lower ahead of the weekend, natural gas futures traders bid the market back up Monday in reaction to forecasts calling for Isidore to re-strengthen as it moves off the Yucatan Peninsula into the warm waters of the Bay of Campeche. Buying was seen in two distinct surges. Prices bubbled steadily higher throughout the morning and then spiked at the closing bell. The October contract finished at $3.978, 22 cents higher for the day and just off its new 15-month top at $3.99. The November contract, which will become the prompt contract after October goes off the board Thursday at 2:30 p.m. EDT, finished 18.3 cents stronger at $4.175.

In what was surely expected to be another long weekend for Williams Cos. Inc., FERC said Friday it will send staffers to the company’s Tulsa headquarters on Wednesday to examine its California natural gas trading data. Meanwhile, after the market closed Friday, Moody’s Investor Services downgraded Williams to one notch above “junk” status, noting that the company is failing to generate enough cash despite its asset sales, and faces more business risks ahead.

It was a popular belief heading into last weekend that the only thing that could subvert a gap-higher open in the natural gas pit on Monday was a substantial revision in the short- and intermediate-term weather forecasts. The potential last week of Old Man Winter making one last appearance across much of the Plains, Midwest and Northeast was too scintillating for traders not to buy into it — even though the cold weather was still a week or more away.

Repairs on a Matagorda Offshore Pipeline System leak near Matagorda Block 758 (see Daily GPI, Feb. 11) were not completed over the weekend due to bad weather. A spokesman for MOPS operator Northern Natural Gas said there was still no prognosis as of Monday afternoon on when the work will be finished. MOPS has been flowing no scheduled volumes since Saturday, affecting about 100 MMcf/d, he said.

The weekend is expected to give some relief to California’s “cold snap,” although by normal Midwest or Eastern standards, the daytime temperatures in the 50s and 60s are downright balmy, but by the standards of this state — even in winter — it’s been downright freezing in the nighttime and morning hours, pushing natural gas consumption to near-record levels from San Diego to the Oregon border.

The weekend was expected to give some relief to California’s cold snap, although by Midwest or Eastern standards, the daytime temperatures in the 50s and 60s are downright balmy. By the standards of California — even in winter — its been downright freezing in the night time and morning hours, pushing natural gas consumption to near-record levels from San Diego to the Oregon border.