Despite flatness at a few mostly western points, the overallmarket pushed higher by around a nickel or so Tuesday. Electricgeneration stresses had faded in the Northeast, but early screensupport and rising air conditioning load in the South-and to amilder extent in the Midwest-combined for the cash gains.

Though August futures eventually settled at a small loss for theday (and continued lower in Access activity), their higher positionwhile cash was still trading was enough to give some boost tophysical gas, several sources said.

The screen’s late retreat was prompted by a drastic plunge ofmore than a dollar in crude oil futures, which could signal thatfuel oil prices may become competitive at the burnertip with gasagain in the near future. The crude nosedive was caused by the headof Petroleos de Venezuela SA suggesting that if oil rose to$22/bbl, OPEC nations might abandon its production limits, a sourcetold Daily GPI.

A marketer said he thought physical traders felt good enoughabout their storage positions to shrug off the moderating Northeastweather. They were ready to interrupt injections to satisfyMonday’s heat-driven demand, the marketer continued. When therewere no significant turnbacks of gas at Louisiana points Tuesday,he said, “that tells me the slacked-off air conditioning load fromthe Northeast was being replaced by renewed injections.”

One trader expressed surprise at tight Gulf Coast andAppalachian ranges in the midst of substantial price increases.

Because of its relationship to higher Gulf Coast pricing, Wahaput a little distance between itself and mostly stagnant SouthernCalifornia numbers, a marketer said.

A couple of Calgary traders reported intra-Alberta deals forAugust being done at C$2.74-75, approximately the same level asTuesday’s day trading. However, both July swing and August baseloadwere softening by about a penny later on, they said.

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