NATURAL GAS / North American Futures
NYMEX Hub Natural Gas Ends Down With Cash, Storm
NEW YORK, Oct 30 - NYMEX Hub natgas futures mostly ended lower Friday
in a sluggish session, pressured by fading concerns about Tropical
Storm Mitch and reports of a crumbling early November cash market,
industry sources said.
December tumbled 7.3 cents to close at $2.275 per million British
thermal units after trading today between $2.265 and $2.37. January
settled six cents lower at $2.448. Most other deferreds ended flat to
down 4.2 cents.
''Mitch is now moving west-southwest, which means it should be no
threat to the Gulf, and the cash got killed today. People were looking
for homes for early November gas,'' said one Midwest trader, adding a
cold front forecast for later next week may not be enough to tighten
the early-month market.
Traders said technical stop loss selling by funds when December broke
$2.33 and $2.28 also contributed to the slide.
At 1600 EST, Tropical Storm Mitch was still inland over Honduras,
drifting west-southwest at about three mph. Maximum sustained winds
increased to 60 mph, but some weakening was still forecast for later
tonight and Saturday as Mitch continues its westward drift, National
Hurricane Center said.
WSC expects Northeast and Mid-Atlantic temperatures to range from
normal to several degrees F below normal through Tuesday. Seasonal
readings in the Southeast and Florida will cool to slightly below
seasonal levels Monday and Tuesday.
In the Midwest, above normal temperatures are expected to dip to
several degrees below normal Sunday through Tuesday. Readings in Texas
will range from normal to 10 degrees F below normal for the period,
while the Southwest will see mostly below normal temperatures for the
period.
Chart traders still pegged key December support at this week's low of
$2.25 and then at the Sept 2 low of $2.14. Resistance was seen in the
$2.38-2.41 area and then at Monday's high of $2.63.
In the cash Friday, early November Henry Hub quotes slumped into the
$1.70s and $1.80s though Hub baseload remained talked on either side
of $2.00, little changed on the day. Midcon baseload lost more than a
nickel to the low-to-mid $1.90s. In the West, November gas on El Paso
Permian was down a few cents to about the $1.90 level.
Baseload gas at the Chicago city gate was talked in the high-teens, up
slightly from yesterday, while New York for next month was pegged one
to two cents higher in the low-$2.30s.
The NYMEX 12-month Henry Hub strip slid 2.8 cents to $2.249. NYMEX
said an estimated 40,800 Hub contracts traded today, down from
Thursday's revised tally of 44,448.
U.S. November Baseload Natural Gas Prices Steady To Lower
NEW YORK, Oct 30 - U.S. spot natural gas prices were steady to lower
for November baseload business but sharply weaker for the weekend,
industry sources said.
November baseload gas prices at Henry Hub were quoted mostly steady at
$1.96-2.03 per mmBtu, while swing business ranged widely from $1.65 to
$1.93.
In the Midcontinent, prices for November baseload were talked a little
lower at $1.92-1.97, while Chicago city-gate prices for the month were
quoted mostly at $2.16-2.18.
In west Texas, El Paso Permian gas traded at $1.85-1.92 for November,
while the San Juan market hovered around $1.85, sources said.
The ongoing San Juan lateral outage, affecting about 625 million cubic
feet per day (mmcfd) of gas out of a total of 800 mmcfd, is expected
to end Saturday. The San Juan lateral runs from Ignacio, Colo., to
Blanco, N.M.
In the East, Appalachian deals for the month were reported done at
$2.20-2.27.
Cooler weather from the west was expected to arrive in the central
U.S. this weekend and continue into next week, reaching the East by
early next week.
The arrival of another cold front was forecast for the upper Midwest
by the end of next week, according to Weather Services Corp.
U.S. Spot Natural Gas Prices - October 30th
NOVEMBER-baseload ($/mmBtu) 10/30 10/29
U.S. GULF OFFSHORE 1.85/1.90 1.88/1.93
TEXAS COAST 1.88/1.93 1.90/1.95
WESTERN TEXAS 1.87/1.92 1.90/1.95
LOUISIANA COAST 1.93/1.98 1.95/2.00
NORTHERN LOUISIANA 1.95/2.00 1.97/2.02
OKLAHOMA 1.92/1.97 1.98/2.03
APPALACHIA 2.21/2.26 2.45/2.50 N
SO. CALIFORNIA BORDER 2.30/2.35 2.32/2.37
HENRY HUB 1.97/2.02 1.97/2.02
WAHA HUB 1.91/1.96 1.91/1.96
Canadian Spot Natural Gas Prices Turn Lower Ahead Of Weekend
NEW YORK, Oct 30 - Canadian spot natural gas prices turned lower
Friday as more supply continued to seep into the Alberta market,
industry sources said.
Linepack on NOVA's system stood at 12.726 billion cubic feet per day
(bcfd) on Thursday evening, down from Wednesday's tally of 12.737 bcfd
and the target linepack of 12.8 bcfd.
November baseload prices at Alberta's AECO storage hub were quoted at
C$2.39-2.50 per gigajoule (GJ), off about 10 cents from Thursday.
AECO prices for Saturday were down sharply at C$1.73, while early
November quotes were heard in the low-C$2.50s.
At Westcoast Energy's Station 2 compressor, November baseload prices
were talked in the high-C$2.60s per GJ, though prices for Nov 1 and
Nov 2 only were quoted widely at C$2.05-2.15.
November swing prices at the Sumas/Huntingdon export point were talked
at US$1.55-1.60 per mmBtu, while baseload business was quoted at
US$1.95-2.05.
In the East, Niagara prices for Sunday/Monday were mostly talked at
US$2.00 per mmBtu.
Canadian Gas Association storage survey - Oct 23th
TORONTO, Oct 30 - Canadian Gas Association (CGA) weekly survey of
Canadian natural gas in storage in billion cubic feet (bcf) for the
week ended Oct 23:
Pct Full Pct Full
10/23/98 10/16/98 Pct Full Week Ago Year Ago
East 233.41 236.47 96.4 97.8 94.5
West 259.29 255.13 95.1 94.3 87.8
Total Canada 492.70 491.60 95.7 95.9 90.9
East-West division is the Manitoba / Saskatchewan and North Dakota /
Minnesota borders.
East capacity 10/23/98: 242.26 bcf, 10/16/98: 241.82 bcf.
West capacity 10/23/98 272.57 bcf, 10/16/98: 270.70 bcf.
The Canadian Gas Association survey includes liquefied petroleum gas,
Canadian operators of gas storage and Canadian companies contracting
gas storage in the U.S.
The survey does not include statistics from the 25 bcf Sabine storage
facility in Alberta.
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