Cash prices for the weekend were down almost across the boardFriday, succumbing to mild weather and lower weekend demand.However, noting the late rebound in the Henry Hub futures contract,a marketer thinks that set the stage for a modest rally in cashnumbers today. He looks for Midcontinent pipes to move back up intothe low $2.10s.

There was surprising variety in the degree of decrease frommarket to market Friday. For instance, while numbers in the Rockiesand at both California borders were mostly flat to off just a bit,San Juan Basin quotes dove after El Paso lifted an OFO related tolow linepack earlier this week (see Transportation Notes). Bondadpool gas took the biggest hit of about a dime and Blanco priceswere down a little over a nickel. And while Northwest domesticprices managed to eke out a small increase, Sumas looked like itcould become 1998’s first sub-dollar trading point as prices theredropped into the low to mid $1.10s.

Eastern markets tended to see prices go down by 2-5 cents.

A marketer who reported Waha and Katy continuing to trade about8 cents apart in the high $2.00s and mid $2.10s respectively saidKaty prices recently have shown a tendency to squeeze higher latein the morning when supply from West Texas dries up. “We tend tohold off on some sales to try to capture those [higher Katy]prices,” he said.

Malin Line 401 came close to matching Line 400 numbers in the$1.80 area as sellers took advantge of unanticipated maintenance atPG&E Gas Transmission-Northwest’s Station 4 south of Kingsgate(see Transportation Notes), which caused some IT cuts on Line 401,a source said.

Basis talk was on the rise as more and more traders shiftedtheir focus toward March business. Here are some of the reportsgiven to Daily GPI: Rockies in general minus 40-44; Transco Zone 6plus 20-23; Chicago plus 3-4; Houston Ship Channel minus 2.5-2.75;Columbia Gulf onshore minus 4; Texas Eastern-East LA minus 5.5,West LA minus 7.75 and South TX minus 10.25; TGT Zone SL minus2.75; and Transco Zone 3 plus 0.25. Early fixed-price deals beingdone included San Juan-Blanco at $2.01, Malin at $1.84 and Rockiespipes at $1.74-77. A marketer said he had gotten a Kingsgate offerat $1.50 but quickly rejected it as too high.

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