Cash prices finally turned downward Thursday, a day later thanseveral sources had expected. Even with the futures screen staginga modest rally, cash traders were unable to ignore the previous twodays’ weakness in the Nymex pit, the continuing lack of weatherfundamentals and yet another bearish storage report that once againemphasised how close injection demand is getting to disappearing.

Price declines ranging from a nickel to a dime were scatteredthroughout all markets, with no single geographic area standing outas particulary different. ONG’s small drop of barely a penny wasattributed to air conditioning load. But Texas temperatures wereapproximately as hot as Oklahoma’s, yet several Texas points weredown nearly a dime as rainstorms continued to alleviate what hadbeen a long-running heat wave.

A Northeast utility buyer reported buying a Transco Zone 6package at $2.05 but said, “We hardly even needed that package.”His company is getting by almost entirely on bidweek baseload, hesaid.

Midcontinent numbers were recovering a little near the end oftrading as short supply squeezes developed on some pipes, amarketer said.

Malin was dropping about a dime as PG&E turned what had beena high-inventory customer advisory into a mild OFO for today (seeTransportation Notes).

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