It seemed reasonable to expect that with the Henry Hub futuresprice barely budging on its last day of trading, cash numbers forMay wouldn’t be moving much in either direction either, as a coupleof sources said prior to the screen expiry Tuesday. Yet tradersreported prices rising a few cents in several markets in afternoondeals. A marketer whose Chicago citygates were in the low $2.30sMonday submitted quotes in the mid to high $2.30s Tuesday. AndPermian Basin gas traded at $2.08-09 most of the day but bumped upto $2.11-12 after the screen closed, a producer said.

A source who saw Gulf Coast prices for May move up 2-3 cents inthe afternoon thought it was a case of many buyers, who keptwaiting around for futures to go off the board, figuring therewould be more softening. When the screen held fast, that got somebuyers in a semi-panic mode and they decided to grab whatever theyneeded before cash got any higher, he added. However, the samesource said he wouldn’t be surprised at all to see May prices giveup Tuesday’s gains today.

A marketer with general Midcontinent quotes rising from the high$2.10s to either side of $2.20 said, “My phone is ringing and it isbuyers and not sellers on the other end. I am waiting, but thesecret is not to wait too long. This market has legs under it nowbut could founder once the buyers stop calling.”

A Rockies buyer called it “one of the more peculiar markets I’veseen” since there seemed to be little convergence of late-April andMay numbers in his region. That was more the case in the West thanthe East, however, as sources reported nearly identical low-to-mid$2.50s pricing for Northeast citygates in trading for both Apriland May.

A Gulf Coast producer confirmed there was “good convergence” inhis market area, saying that set the stage for a “standoff” todayon April cash prices. Buyers will not want to pay higher than Maylevels, and that is where suppliers will be comfortable selling, headded.

The April incremental market was quiet as it prepared for itsfarewell showing today. Few points strayed more than 1-2 cents upor down from Monday levels. The rare markets seeing rises of morethan 2 cents were in the Rockies and Southwest basins, where somechilly but not-quite-freezing weather was returning.

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