Monday’s spot trading yielded a hodgepodge of results, with hotweather in both the East and West being the primary market force.Despite an appeal for electricity conservation in New England asregional power utilities strained to meet demand, gas prices thereshowed little change. But a western heat wave had quotes rangingfrom flat to more than a nickel higher.

Not counting firmness in the Southwest and Rockies, the othermajor producing areas (Gulf Coast, Applachia and Midcontinent)generally were flat to off a few cents. The mild softness came evenwith parts of the Southeast beginning to experience more normalsummer high temperatures in the 90s.

A Power Watch declared by ISO (Independent System Operator) NewEngland, effective at 11 a.m. EDT Monday and extended throughtoday, had relatively little impact on the Northeast gas market.The New England power pool apparently was able to cope effectivelywith high electric demand resulting from hot and humid weather, asswing quotes for Transco Zone 6-NYC and Texas Eastern M-3 wereabout flat. But as one source pointed out, Friday’s citygate jumpsof about a nickel or so obviously had already factored in most ofthe upcoming explosion of power generation load.

A power marketer said the alert was kind of a non-event for him;peak-hour quotes of $60/Mwh in the New England power pool wererelatively mild, he added. The primary effects on gas from theISO’s alert came in a large aggregator’s Algonquin citygate quotesaveraging in the high $2.50s, about a nickel above M-3 and Zone6-NYC levels. And a utility buyer in the region said an intradayZone 6-NYC purchase at $2.58 was 4-5 cents above swing deals fortoday’s flow.

The day’s biggest increase of about 7 cents came at the PG&Ecitygate, where the dual utility switched abruptly from ahigh-inventory weekend OFO to projecting Monday’s linepack would be150 MMcf below its target. However, no new OFO was issued.

Western heat, especially in the California andeast-of-California markets, translated into generally higher gasprices. The demand pull was enhanced by several traders showing upshort-handed in the Southwest supply basins, said a marketer whowas hearing peak-hour electric prices as high as $80/Mwh at thePalo Verde Switchyard. Another source reported similar peakingnumbers on the California Power Exchange, saying non-coastaltemperatures were approaching 100 degrees. “That [$80/Mwh] is thehighest price for power we have seen so far in this ‘so-calledsummer,'” he said. California temperatures will remain high for thenext couple of days, he added, but then will go into a 10-degreecooling trend heading into a holiday weekend.

July pricing was a little bit higher Monday, “maybe a penny to apenny and a half,” than on Friday, said a Northeast marketer. Abuyer reported getting Transco Zone 6-NYC offers at $2.48-50. Newfixed-price deals were reported at $2.24-25 for Sonat and FloridaGas-Zone 2, $2.26-28 for Henry Hub, $2.04 for El Paso-San Juan(Blanco pool) and $2.36-38 for the Southern California border.

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