Winter

Just days before Halloween, November natural gas forwards prices in playing the part of Ichabod Crane fell off their high horse — tumbling an average of 18.5 cents between Oct. 21 and 27 — as the humdrum of shoulder season gripped the market and gas storage inventories closed in on last year’s record-breaking levels, according to NGI’s Forward Look.

Natural gas forwards markets wiped out last week’s gains, plunging some 16 cents on average between Oct. 14 and 20, as the market continues to wait for cold weather to arrive and grapples with record storage inventories.

Natural gas and power markets are ‘cautiously optimistic’ as they approach the upcoming winter, according to the 2016-2017 Winter Energy Market Assessment released Thursday by FERC’s Office of Enforcement (OE).

Physical natural gas traders having no desire to subject their deals to the often volatile effects of the 10:30 am EDT release of storage data by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) may have set the stage for a broad market shift lower by both futures and cash markets.

California’s grid operator has scheduled a stakeholders conference call for Thursday to discuss the draft proposed tariff for implementing the second phase of the state’s natural gas-electric coordination plans assuming continued closure of the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage field.

A winter expected to be 12% colder than last year’s and increased industrial demand have brightened the prospects for natural gas producers heading into the official start of winter at the end of the month, according to the Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA).

The upcoming winter could be an extended one from the northern Plains to the natural gas-hungry population centers of the eastern United States, with cold and snowy conditions stretching into the spring, while the southern half of the nation is expected to be relatively mild and dry, according to a long-term forecast issued Wednesday by AccuWeather.

The fall shoulder season may be just around the corner, but some unexpected maintenance events that cut both nuclear generation and production this week helped send natural gas October futures and forward prices up more than 10 cents on average from Sept. 9 to 15, NGI Forward Look shows.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) said Thursday that it expects to have enough power generating capacity available to meet fall and winter demand.