As presaged Tuesday by late retrenchment in cash quotes and ascreen drop that carried over into Access trading, the cash marketwas in full retreat Wednesday. All points were off by at least anickel or so, and most of the decreases were around a dime. In whatwas described often as quiet trading, the softening Henry Hubfutures contract for June was the only significant influence oncash that sources could cite.

“It’s the same old pattern as before: wherever the screen goes,we go,” said a Houston-based marketer. He was in a bearish mood,saying it looks like fundamentals will continue to sit out the cashmarket for a while, “and meanwhile there’s still this hugeyear-on-year storage surplus.” The marketer expressed mild shockthat Gulf Coast and Northeast prices didn’t fall off any more thanthey did Wednesday.

Most of Tuesday’s decay in futures value took place after cashhad finished trading, so cash was mostly “catching up” Wednesday,according to one source. But don’t underestimate this week’ssoftness in crude and unleaded gasoline prices, he added; in fact,the “whole hydrocarbons complex is soft” and that is weighing downthe gas market.

One source quoted Florida Gas Transmission-Zone 2 flat to Sonaton either side of $2.20. The two points have been trading within ahalf-cent of each other for over a month now, he said. FGT-Zone 2prices are usually lower than Sonat’s but have been coming onstrong due to strong air conditioning load, he added.

A West Coast trader was surprised at the ability of Sumas (offabout 4 cents) to withstand the downturn more than other markets.”I guess it is still a little cooler [in the Pacific Northwest]than people expect it to be, and those same people need gas forstorage.”

One trader was already selling intra-Alberta gas for June in thelow to mid C$2.60s, approximately the same prices he was seeing fordaily swing Wednesday.

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