Subject: taking up the slack - cera alert
note : cera gives a storage prediction for end of withdrawal season under a
normal winter .
cera alert : sent fri , november 10 , 2000
title : taking up the slack
author : n . american gas team
e - mail category : alert
product line : north american gas ,
url : http : / / www . cera . com / cfm / track / eprofile . cfm ? u = 5526 & m = 1415 ,
alternative url :
cold weather in the midwest and reduced storage
injections have taken up much of the temporary slack
that developed in the gas market during the warm
october . as expected , prices have responded quickly to
the cold , with the december futures contract price
advancing by over $ 0 . 75 per million british thermal
units ( mmbtu ) in the past week . as cold weather
develops , late winter supply availability is still
uncertain in cera ' s view . for that reason , dual - fuel
markets must remain off of gas , and market fundamentals
support the recent price rebound , which places gas
prices again at a premium to resid .
cera estimates that us working storage inventories as of
the end of october were approximately 2 , 746 billion
cubic feet ( bcf ) , an all - time low for that date by 64
bcf ( see table below ) . storage injections of 36 bcf for
the week ending november 3 were higher than a normal
weather pattern would indicate , but more normal weather
for the remainder of the month would result in
withdrawals averaging 3 . 5 bcf per day during november .
this withdrawal rate is moderate by historical standards
but 2 . 5 bcf per day higher than occurred in the past two
years ( see table below ) . this pace of withdrawals places
inventories on a path toward an end - of - march minimum of
771 bcf under normal winter weather conditions , only 13
bcf above the previous all - time low .
this market remains tight . although added supplies will
begin to help by the end of the winter , for now some
demand must still be priced out of the market in order
to preserve storage inventories .
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