The cash market finally broke free from the doldrums that hadbecalmed much of it earlier this week and found a direction inwhich to move Thursday-mostly down a few cents in the East. Sourcescited the decline in the Henry Hub futures contract for July as themain reason for eastern cash drops that ranged up to a nickel orso. However, continued warm to hot weather kept air conditionershumming in the West, and the resultant power generation load forgas rendered most of the region’s trading points resistant to thegeneral softness. Western quotes tended to be flat to up a penny.

Wednesday afternoon’s AGA storage report seemed kind of bullishsince the figure of 63 Bcf in injections fell well short of mostexpectations, a Gulf Coast producer said, but cash apparently wasnot reacting that way Thursday.

Power prices were rising in the West and that helped support gasprices, according to an Oklahoma source. San Juan Basin numberstook a little dip in the middle of trading and then came back upnear the end, he said, while Southern California border quotesremained strong all the way.

Intra-Alberta pricing fell slightly to C$2.79-80 despite a NOVApigging operation that is keeping more than 800 MMcf/d off themarket through next Wednesday, a Calgary marketer said. He figuredprices would be down to the low to mid C$2.70s if it hadn’t beenfor the supply cut. But intra-Alberta numbers are stuck in a rutright now with little in the way of weather to influence themeither up or down, he said. The Alberta market was quieter thanusual due to a NOVA golf tournament, he added.

A Midcontinent trader considered himself lucky after sellinginto NGPL-TexOk at $2.21 and ANR-Southwest at $2.16 early whenprices were relatively flat. “When they dropped later, we were ableto backfill,” he said. He expects most Midcontinent pipes to fallinto the mid $2.00s today due to mild weather and the usual weekenddemand slump. But prices should be recovering around next Wednesdaywhen temperatures are forecast to be in the 90s, he said.

The same Midcontinent trader said the storage report had littleeffect on the market “because I think we’re on a pace where thestorage situation justifies the prices. We’re right where we shouldbe [on storage injections].”

July physical basis quotes narrowed Thursday in sympathy withthe screen’s softness, a Texas marketer said. She reported basistalk of minus 6-6.5 for both ANR-Southeast and Texas Eastern’s EastLouisiana zone. Basis is minus 9.5-10 for Texas Eastern’s SouthTexas zone, she said.

©Copyright 1999 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. Thepreceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, inwhole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent ofIntelligence Press, Inc.