Some traders saw little change in April post-weekend pricingMonday, but others reported small to moderate increases. Thatsurprised a few sources because of hearing talk last week that manybuyers planned to wait until Monday to make their purchases,expecting lower prices after futures had expired.

One source said she was so annoyed at being unable to comprehendwhy May futures went up a nickel to around $2.40 that “it justmakes me want to throw this screen out the window.” But a bigaggregator figured that although April futures had softened at theend Friday, Monday’s screen run-up for May was lending strength toApril cash numbers.

That is also causing some dramatic divergence between March andApril cash, the aggregator said. March has been pulled a bit lowerby warm weather and relatively low cash-out prices while April wasmoving higher with the May screen, he said.

Things were looking “very strong” at the Chicago citygate, saida marketer who was doing mid to high $2.30s deals last week but wastrading on either side of $2.40 Monday. “Offers are now solidly inthe low $2.40s,” he said. There seems to be a lot of demand in atight Midcontinent market, he added. Usually Chicago trades atMidcontinent field prices plus about 15 cents, the marketer said;now it’s more like plus 20-21 cents.

A marketer was hearing Panhandle Eastern bid-ask spreads of$2.185-20. That was true in the morning, a producer said, but itwas up to $2.19-21 in the afternoon. The situation was similar onANR-Southwest and NGPL-Midcontinent, he said.

Spreads are making it economical to move Stanfield gas to Malin,one trader told Daily GPI. That was flooding the Malin market withgas and in turn making the Redwood path the cheapest way to gas tothe PG&E Citygate. The citygate was being offered at Malin plus38-43, he said.

Flatness along with small ups and downs was abundant in quotesfor last-day-of-March flow. Conspicuous exceptions were Chicago,California and intra-Alberta, which each rose 3-5 cents. A sourcesuggested that incremental Chicago quotes were boosted by thescreen run-up, much as in April business. Below-normal temperaturesin California and east-of-California areas boosted the day marketthere, another said.

One trader attributed the intra-Alberta increase to low fieldreceipts and operational maintenance in the province. But anothersaw it more as a case of “huge economic incentive” to put gas intostorage. The summer months (April-October) are trading aroundC$1.90, he said, but prices for next winter (November-March) are inthe C$2.50 area. That gap of C60 cents could provide an enticingstorage profit, he concluded.

A new cold front moved into the Rockies over the weekend but hadlittle price effect for the last day of March as quotes stayed flatin the $1.90 area. Unusually warm weather on the East Coast,however, was pulling Texas Eastern M-3 citygates in the Northeastdown a few cents.

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