Records for low temperatures were being set Tuesday from theMidwest into the Southeast, but it would have been difficult todiscern that from the broad-based retreat in cash prices. Tradersnoted a falling futures screen and factored in a warming trend thatwas expected to begin in the Midwest as early as Tuesday, then sentcash numbers down by a nickel or more at almost every point.

Instead of the East-West dichotomy that has dominated the marketover the last month or two, all regions were on the same softeningpage for a change.

Constrained Transco Zone 6 deliveries into New York City fell byalmost 10 cents but still maintained 20 cent-plus premium overnon-New York Zone 6 and Texas Eastern M-3. Zone 6-NYC was stillbeing quoted over $3 in most deals. But the really big East Coastaction, according to one marketer, was in Transco’s Zone 4 where hewas hearing Atlanta-area citygate reports ranging on either side of$4.

Chicago and Michigan citygates diverged radically due to themuch greater amount of storage available in the Wolverine State,sources said. MichCon and Consumers Power quotes, already trailingChicago prior to Tuesday, dropped about a dime while Chicago lostonly 3 cents as LDC buying stepped up there, they said. Midwestdeliveries could soften again today, a marketer said, but hethought forecasts for a return of below-normal temperatures in theGreat Lakes region would generate an upsurge again before the endof the week.

Northern Border reported it was getting nominations of 300-350MMcf/d for delivery into the Chicago area as of Monday, or at leastthree times last week’s volumes. A spokeswoman said the pipelineisn’t up to its full Chicago capacity of 665 MMcf/d yet because theVentura market is currently so strong that some people with achoice prefer to take their gas there.

Operational Flow Orders against negative imbalances persisted ona number of pipes, and Florida Gas Transmission added one for itsmarket area (see Transportation Notes).

The San Juan-Blanco/Southern California border basisdifferential has dwindled to about a dime because of relativelyweak California load being greatly outweighed by demand forSouthwest basin gas in the frigid Midcontinent and Midwest, amarketer said.

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