The heat that spurred Tuesday’s price gains obviously was sufficient for only one day of bullishness. With some cooling trends approaching, and pressure from five straight preceding days of screen weakness, prices fell by double digits at all points Wednesday. Losses ranged from 15 cents to nearly 50 cents, and most points retreated further than they had advanced in Tuesday’s mini-rally.

The biggest declines occurred in the Northeast, where a Canadian cold front is due to deliver residents from a couple of days with highs in the 90s. The front is moving very slowly, according to The Weather Channel, but will keep regional weather among the nicest in the nation through the weekend.

Due to the planned closure of Nymex Friday, virtually all of Thursday’s cash deals will be for four-day flows through next Monday. Many traders will be taking Friday off. As one marketing firm said, “We can’t operate without having Nymex to balance risk.”

By falling 3.3 cents Wednesday, the natural gas screen made it six days in a row of downward movement despite moderate rebounds in oil product futures. Oil went higher even after the Energy Information Administration reported increases in product stockpiles during the previous week. Most predictions for EIA’s natural gas storage report Thursday morning call for an injection in the 90s Bcf.

Continued screen weakness, forecasts of milder weather and the fact that deals will cover a long weekend make it almost certain that cash prices will continue to soften Thursday, one source commented.

California shed one high-linepack OFO when SoCalGas failed to extend the one it had issued for Wednesday, but PG&E kept its OFO in place through Thursday, albeit with a loosened imbalance tolerance (see Transportation Notes). Highs previously over 100 degrees were receding into the 90s in most of the desert Southwest. And a further indicator of slacking western demand was Kern River’s repetition of a Critical Notice from earlier in the week about high linepack levels (see Transportation Notes).

Western prices were coming off hard near the end of trading, a buyer in the region reported. He was able to pick up some late El Paso-Permian pool gas at $5.20, about 20 cents or so below where the day’s quotes averaged. He also reported a late intraday “renom” deal at $5.25 for the Southern California border; that was about 15 cents less than the day’s average. “Things are turning into a buyer’s market, especially heading into the long weekend,” the buyer said. However, he thought gas “still seems pretty pricey” at $5-plus for putting into storage.

The market is starting to lose some air conditioning load, said a Texas-based trader. The weather pattern is kind of erratic and not very supportive of prices, she went on, adding that Texas heat levels are subpar for this time of year.

For the June 14-18 workweek, the National Weather Service predicts above normal temperatures in two areas: a large oval from roughly the eastern edges of Wisconsin and Iowa through the western border of Idaho; and in Arizona, southern Nevada and southeastern California. The Gulf Coast region from East Texas through the Florida Panhandle and including most of Georgia is expected to see below normal temperatures, according to the NWS.

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