Bidweek

Nationally, July bidweek averages slipped, but those traders and marketers fortunate enough to be selling gas to the “hot” California market saw bidweek quotes rise well into double digits. Outside of the West, strong production, temperate weather and a continuous stream of weekly triple-digit storage injections combined to push NGI’s National July Bidweek Average down 10 cents from June bidweek to $4.02.

With futures prices stuck in a range, and weather forecasts uninspiring, bidweek traders didn’t have a lot to go on to make their June trades. Utilities, as always, were making sure their bidweek purchases aligned with their need to refill storage, but marketers needing to ensure their customers get the lowest cost gas possible were faced with a different set of challenges. Nationally theNGIBidweek Average Price for June fell 36 cents from May to $4.12. Most individual pointslost about 20 cents and only a few locations made it into positive territory. The Northeast saw the greatest swings, and of the actively traded points June bidweek at the Algonquin Citygates jumped 98 cents to average $5.58 and Tennessee Zone 4 Marcellus dropped $1.01 to average $2.41. All regions declined.

For utilities and those with storage facilities severely depleted by the ravages of a vortex-driven winter, May indices offered the opportunity to refill at what could be a relative bargain. Despite large declines in the Northeast and Midwest,NGI’sMay National Bidweek Average rose a nickel over April to a modest $4.48. Individual market points in the East fell the most with Algonquin Citygate dropping $1.60 to average $4.60 and Tennessee Zone 6 200 L dropping $1.56 to $4.70. Marcellus Shale pricing points, with their unique abundance of supply and capacity constraint issues, rose the most with Transco-Leidy Line gaining 64 cents to $3.44 and Tennessee Zone 4 Marcellus rising 79 cents to $3.42.

Perhaps it was the overall trend of falling bidweek prices or maybe the expected arrival of warmer temperatures following a brutally cold and extended winter…

March Bidweek prices were all over the map, with multi-dollar gains posted in the Midwest and multi-dollar losses seen in the Northeast. TheNGI March Bidweek national average was $5.84, down 74 cents from February, but tell that to buyers on the AlgonquinCitygates, who paid the month’s highest index at $15.52, down $19.98, or on Tennessee Zone 6 200 L where the March Index was $14.63, down $11.93. Lowest bidweek prices were seen on Transco Leidy, which was $1.91, down $1.43 from February, and Tennessee Zone 4 Marcellus, which was $1.93, down $1.47.

Prodded by January’s arctic blasts and promises of more cold to come, February bidweek prices soared, with the usual eastern suspects notching prices above $25 and $35 dollars, helping boost NGI’s National Spot Gas Bidweek average up $2.04 from January to $6.58. The Northeast region averaged $8.83, with the Midwest not far behind at $7.78.

With a far-reaching blizzard and record-setting cold moving out of the Midwest and into the Northeast Thursday, it came as no surprise that January natural gas bidweek prices not only shot higher, but in at least one instance reached a record high.

December bidweek prices showed hefty double-digit gains throughout the country, with NGI’s National Average for the month jumping 24 cents from November to $3.77. Only a single individual point, PG&E Citygate, posted a loss, and advances of double-digits and in some cases, multi-dollars, were registered.

In an effort to stay current with the continuously changing North American natural gas market, NGI is proposing to make several changes to the spot market price tables that appear in NGI’s Bidweek Gas Price Survey, NGI’s Weekly Gas Price Index, and NGI’s Daily Gas Price Index newsletters. These changes would be effective as of the first December 2013 editions of our various Gas Price Index newsletters, and are as follows: