LONDON (Commodity Online): US gas prices bounced back to Friday's levels, erasing the loss yesterday, as the market still balances the effects of warm weather but higher-than-expected demand.
Despite a small band of cold weather persisting over the southwest for the next few days, if the 6-10 day weather outlook holds, Santa can go to his red flip-flops during the North American part of his tour.
Yet, if Thursday's storage number again is higher than expected, it should help confirm that gas is displacing Coal in size, helping mute the weather impact.
On the day, the prompt month rose three cents, to $3.13/MMBtu. The back of the curve was a bit better supported, with calendar 2012 and 2013 each climbing four cents, to $3.40 and $4.05, respectively.
Cash markets were up at almost all price points. Henry Hub added three cents, to $3.06. New York (Transco-Z6) fell nine more cents, to $3.37. SoCalBorder recovered five cents, to $3.39.
