The overall price trend was up again Tuesday, but the market washardly a model of consistency. Some points, such as the Northernand Southern California borders and PG&E citygates, barelymanaged to maintain flatness or eke out small gains, while otherssuch as Waha and Northeast citygates continued to surge upward byas much as a dime or more. A marketer reporting Transco Zone 6(NYC) topping $2.60 said she hadn’t expected to see those kind ofnumbers again until next fall at the earliest.

But several sources said Tuesday probably marked the high pointof this week’s weather-based price hikes. The screen was higherinitially, they noted, it showed a net loss for the day and wascontinuing to slip in Access trading. And although a Midcontinenttrader said the frigid weather was expected to last through theweekend in the Plains states, a Gulf Coast source said despitestrong LDC demand in the Midwest and Northeast, market-areaforecasts called for today to be the coldest, so prices might havehit their peak Tuesday.

A marketer who saw Northern Natural-demarc go as high as the$2.40 area before backing off to $2.35 said it’s a sure sign ofsuper-strong weather demand in the Upper Midwest when demarc pullsthat far ahead of the Midcontinent pack.

A Rockies marketer said area prices were starting to approach$2.10, but she was surprised they hadn’t already started fallingTuesday. “It’s nice and sunny here in the 40s,” she said.

A source expecting an AGA storage withdrawal report today in theneighborhood of 85 Bcf was unsure if any dramatically differentfigure would have much effect on prices anyway.

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