As sources had expected, the prolonged decline of the Junefutures contract throughout Tuesday’s trading made its influencefelt in softer cash prices Wednesday. But cash losses weredecidedly modest, with nearly all points registering drops of only2-4 cents. Futures offered only a tiny downtick of less than apenny as further guidance Wednesday.

The repetition of “following the screen” may be getting tiresometo many, one trader told Daily GPI, “but that’s all we’ve had torationalize cash price movement for some time now.” Weather remainsa non-factor as people enjoy a comfortably mild winter/summertransition in virtually every region, he added.

The AGA report of 79 Bcf in storage injections last week jibedwith the expectations of many people, a marketer said, so it shouldbe considered neutral. But another trader, while acknowledging that79 Bcf overall was right in line with what he expected, said he was”personally bearish” about Midcontinent storage facilities being62% full this early in the injection season. That doesn’t leavemuch flexibility for putting gas back into the ground, he said.

The San Juan Basin and Rockies markets will lose some pricesupport today, a couple of sources noted. Plant maintenance at theBlanco and Opal Hubs is scheduled to be completed sometime today,putting significant chunks of gas that had been shut in by the workback on the market for Friday’s gas day.

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