Both physical and financial natural gas markets were poised to make healthy gains by midweek, but the weekly Energy Information Administration (EIA) storage report stunted gains in the physical market, and pushed the October futures into the loss column for the week.
It was a tale of two physical markets Wednesday as Thursday gas traded sharply lower at Rockies and California points, but in the Northeast next-day deliveries added about a dime on a firm power market. NGI's National Spot Gas Average fell 13 cents to $2.32 and futures prices weakened as well.
There was plenty of market activity to keep bidweek traders busy as they put October deals to bed, but outside of Appalachia, the Rocky Mountains and California, bidweek quotes showed only nominal declines of a few pennies. The NGI October National Bidweek Average fell 10 cents to $2.54 from September Bidweek, and represents a mere 3-cent premium over the NGI October 2016 National Bidweek Average of $2.51.
Wednesday physical natural gas trading for Thursday delivery saw widespread weakness of a few pennies at most spots around the country offset by significant strength in California and New England, where colder temperatures were beginning to set in.
Natural gas cash prices Tuesday for Wednesday delivery were uninspired except for in the Northeast, where some points flirted with $2 gains as forecasts turned cooler and power prices surged. February futures gained 8.2 cents to $3.455 and March was higher by 7.5 cents to $3.453. February crude oil fell 86 cents to $93.28/bbl.