“Following the screen” obviously didn’t apply Tuesday as thecash market’s mostly flat performance was a far cry from the8.1-cent drop in the Henry Hub futures contract for June. But, as aGulf Coast trader noted, a substantial portion of the screensoftness occurred after cash had finished trading for the day, andto him that means it’s a safe bet to expect a decline in cashprices today.

Weather continued to have virtually no impact on the currentmarket, with temperatures ranging in the 60s and 70s across most ofthe nation.

A Houston buyer pointed out a potential depressant on gasprices: A plunge of more than 80 cents Tuesday in crude oil futuresfor June left that contract not far above $17/bbl. Apparently crudetraders are losing faith in the ability of OPEC nations to maintainproduction cuts promised earlier this year, he said.

Tuesday’s only significant price hikes of more than a couple ofcents came in San Juan Basin and on Northwest (domestic), which areaffected by supply constraints resulting from maintenance outagesat the Blanco and Opal plants respectively. However, the outagesdon’t appear to be hindering acquisition of gas very much, said abig aggregator quoting Northwest at $2.13-14, barely a penny underhis San Juan deals at $2.14-15.

Plant turnarounds in Alberta are helping provincial prices toresist any screen-related softness, a marketer said.

One trader expressed surprise at seeing cash quotes hold firm inthe Midcontinent. Deliveries into Northern Natural Gas at Venturagot some boost by a cut of 10% on Northern Border volumes, whichsent some people scrambling for replacement gas, he said. TheNorthern Border bulletin board said unplanned, weather-relatedcompressor outages at Stations 13, 14 and 17, combined with anupcoming planned outage at Station 13, required the pipeline toreduce flows to 90% of summer design capacity for today throughFriday.

A marketer reported having no luck in trying to get some Junebusiness going either Monday or Tuesday afternoon. He was hearing a”typical” differential of about 1.5 cents between bids and offersat Texas points.

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