Gas prices didn’t care that Monday marked the official start of1998’s Atlantic hurricane season. What did impress them wasblistering heat in the Gulf Coast producing states of Louisiana andTexas. With more gas than usual being kept at home for airconditioning load, the Midwest and Northeast market areas-thoughconsiderably cooler than Down South-had to pony up a few extracents in competition. The futures screen run-up contributed to thegeneral cash bullishness, sources said.

Midcontinent prices, though not impacted quite as directly bythe heat, were tacking on as much as a dime in the case ofANR-Southwest as gas there was called upon to replace Gulf Coastsupplies that otherwise would have been headed to market.

But much like last week, most Western points missed out on theEastern price upticks. Because of their proximity and access to theTexas intrastate market, Permian Basin and Waha numbers weresoaring. Waha was trading around $2.09, about 15 cents over index,a marketer said. But San Juan gas, unable to head east because offull pipes in that direction, was trading at index in the mid$1.70s, he said.

Even though there was a little more demand Monday fromCalifornia utilities than prior to the weekend, another tradersaid, it really did nothing to boost San Juan/ Rockies pricing.Also, maintenance at the Clay Basin storage facility is keepingabout 100 MMcf/d from being injected, leaving that much extra gasup for grabs, a marketer said.

Intra-Alberta was several cents down to either side of C$1.70despite NOVA maintenance starting tomorrow that will take anestimated 500 MMcf/d off the market, one source told Daily GPI.NOVA was “packing the line hard” over the weekend, he noted, sothat offset some of the maintenance impact. However, it’s startingto make its presence felt as the source was able to do a C$1.75Aeco sale for today’s flow late yesterday afternoon.

©Copyright 1998 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.