Taking its cue from the mild screen weakness on Tuesday, the cash market strength of the last two days came to an end across the country on Wednesday except for a few spots in the Midcontinent and the West. The word on the street was that some shops closed early as traders flowed to Omaha, NE, for the culmination of the College World Series.

After adding more than 50 cents over the previous two days, points in the Northeast gave back 10 to 15 cents on Wednesday, possibly taking their direction from the 5.3-cent drop in July futures on Tuesday. The market will have the opposite guidance Thursday as front-month gas futures gained 12.4 cents Wednesday to close at $4.253 (see related story).

Despite significant heat down south, Most Gulf region points declined between 15 and 20 cents, while the Midcontinent was a mixed bag. Some Midcontinent cash points dropped as much as 6 cents, while others added up to 4 pennies. In the Rockies and out West, most points declined by a few pennies, but a few gains of less than a dime were sprinkled in.

“I was in the market a little bit on Wednesday, but there did not seem to be a whole lot of movement anywhere really,” a Houston trader said. “The screen came off some early, but it kind of ran up after we had traded for a while. As a result, I think it will likely be up tomorrow as well. In the end, futures didn’t move very much on Wednesday and neither did we.”

The buyer said the feel of trading on Wednesday was a little bit different than normal. “Trading was a little funny. A lot of the traders in the middle of the country are trading from their motel rooms in Omaha,” he said. “There is a big group of traders there for the games and the parties. As a result, a lot of stuff gets done early. It’s kind of a mixed bag. Unless someone wants to sit around and play fixed price, a lot of shops likely closed up early.”

The trader also noted that the summer heat over the last two weeks has finally hit Houston. “We’re looking at temps of 98 degrees, so the air conditioners are on,” he said. “The heat is definitely here and from the looks of things will not be leaving us anytime soon.”

Much of the focus of the cash and futures markets still is on the weak fundamentals of natural gas, which aren’t expected to get any stronger following Thursday morning’s storage report from the Energy Information Administration for the week ending June 12. Many within the industry are expecting the report to reveal a fifth consecutive triple-digit injection, which would continue to grow the year-on-year and year-on-five-year average overhangs, especially since only 60 Bcf was injected last year for the similar week and the five-year average build only comes in at 80 Bcf.

Bentek Energy said its flow model indicates an injection of 113 Bcf for the week, which would bring stocks 3.8% above the five-year high and 22.6% above the five-year average. The estimate consists of a 69 Bcf build in the East region, a 29 Bcf addition in the Producing region and a 15 Bcf uptick in the West region.

As of June 5, storage inventories are already 568 Bcf higher than a year ago and 438 Bcf above the five-year average. Even though the traditional injection season is still in early June with four and a half months left to go, some injection records are already close to falling.

“The Producing region is only 87 Bcf off of the previous maximum inventory levels and has averaged an injection of 27 Bcf per week over the last five weeks,” according to Bentek. “If the Producing region injects at the rate of the five-year average, it will reach a new regional record by the end of August. If injections are closer to the five-year high, a new maximum level will be reached by the end of July.”

The Houston trader said gas supply just doesn’t seem to be an issue at this point. “From what I’ve seen, there is plenty of gas and we’ll likely get yet another significant injection Thursday,” he said.

©Copyright 2009Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news reportmay not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in anyform, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.