Geographic price tendencies shifted going into the weekend.Western markets, which had been resisting the week’s overallsoftness earlier due to heavy cooling load andsupply/transportation problems, were being routed Friday,particularly at the California border. Meanwhile Eastern pricesfell by a nickel or less in most cases, with Appalachian pipes andNortheast/Midwest citygates flat or close to it.

Rockies/Pacific Northwest points took several big hits,especially at Stanfield and in the Opal Hub area. The WhitneyCanyon Plant outage near Opal was expected to end Saturday, andPG&E Gas Transmission-Northwest was winding up its Station 8maintenance late Friday.

Intra-Alberta prices collapsed back to the low C$1.80s Friday asquickly as they had run up the day before. Not only were fieldreceipts returning to normal, a source said, but transportationconstraints were backing gas up into the province. Sumas quotesdropped by almost a dime.

Amoco, which had expected to restore full processing operationat its Hugoton Jayhawk Plant by today, told Williams last week thenew start-up target is Thursday. Despite the delay in returning alot of supply to the auction block, Williams (along with NorthernNatural-field) was a rare Midcontinent pipe falling by more than anickel Friday.

There’s not much to say about the current gas market except”it’s weak,” a producer commented. Another producer said traderswill find out today “if it [Friday’s downturn] was just areflection of lower weekend demand, or is it for real?”

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