Prices rebounded at all points Monday based largely on the previous Friday’s 32-cent climb by futures and the return of industrial load from its normal weekend drop. Weather-based demand continued to be relatively light.

Most of Monday’s gains were fairly moderate in ranging from about a couple of pennies to a little more than 30 cents. The Rockies and Northeast citygates tended to see most of the largest increases.

The cash market lost its prior-day futures backing again as the October natural gas contract fell 20.2 cents amid overall weakness in Nymex’s energy complex (see related story).

The Weather Channel’s website headline Monday afternoon summed it up rather succinctly: “South flooded, Rockies snow, West heat.”

Tuesday temperatures would be dipping into the 30s overnight in the Rockies, but an astounding amount of rain was due to keep much of the South below its usual late-summer heat levels. However, a great deal of interior California was destined to rejoin the desert Southwest with highs around the 100-degree level or slightly higher Tuesday.

Meanwhile, it was unlikely that lows dipping into the 50s and occasionally upper 40s in parts of the Northeast, Midwest and Upper Plains would result in much heating load, but a few people might be turning on their furnaces.

As one analyst pointed out, was last week’s Energy Information Administration’s lower-than-expected of a 66 Bcf storage build for the week ending Sept. 11 due more to reduced production or rapidly diminishing injection space? Who can tell at this point?

Significant Atlantic tropical activity was nil Monday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

SunTrust Robinson Humphrey analysts noted that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s six- to 10-day outlook “suggests an early peak at winter is in store for some heading into October, as well below-average temperatures are expected in essentially all regions east of the Rockies. So far this month, gas-fired power demand is 1.5-2.0 Bcf/d higher y/y [year-on-year] against an easy hurricane-related comparison.”

Midwest weather has grown “more fall-like,” said a regional market, and should stay pretty cool for about another week or so. Despite Monday’s price firmness, he said there are “no good trading fundamentals right now.” He called it “a good question” about why overall recent price bullishness is ignoring bearish storage signals, but he couldn’t answer it.

Some heat in the West is helping prop up cash prices, the marketer said, but there are “no [basis] spreads hardly anywhere.”

A Rockies producer observed that it was 41 degrees when he went to work Monday morning and he had to wear a winter coat. Also, some snow was expected in the regional mountains that nigh. “Sure hope we don’t skip fall this year out here,” he commented.

However, the producer said local cold weather was only expected to last a couple of days. The Midwest is the most gas-intensive area when it comes to heating demand, he said, and “if they get an early winter, now that would really help” in raising gas prices.

The recent reversal of the decline in drilling rigs seeking natural gas in the U.S., which dominated the first seven months of 2009, continued during the week ending Sept. 18, according to the Baker Hughes oilfield services firm (https://intelligencepress.com/features/bakerhughes/). It said the gas rig count rose by six to 705, which SunTrust Robinson Humphrey/the Gerdes Group said was “the highest level of gas-directed drilling activity since May.” Two rigs quit the Gulf of Mexico search, Baker Hughes said, but eight were activated onshore. Its latest tally was up 1% from a month earlier but down 56% from the year-ago level.

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