The cash market entered one of its leveling-off phases Thursdaywith flat prices prevailing at a majority of points. A little earlystrength on the futures screen helped buoy physical gas at first,but toward the end of the morning cash numbers were following thescreen lower “step for step,” a Gulf Coast producer said. Onceagain there was essentially nothing to influence trading beside thescreen, she added, dismissing the AGA storage report Wednesdayafternoon as a non-event.

Most of the softness was concentrated in theMidcontinent/Midwest region, which was losing any vestiges ofheating load that might have been lingering before Thursday.Northern Natural Gas points fell almost a nickel.

A marketer quoting only one fixed price for the day thought his$2.255 purchase into Trunkline-East Louisiana was a little on theexpensive side because of a capacity curtailment. The pipeline tookits offshore T25 platform out of service Thursday for anundetermined period of maintenance on the fuel system piping.However, Trunkline said, although offshore producers may experiencedaily pressure fluctuations during the work, it did not qualify asa force majeure for daily scheduling penalties.

One of the day’s widest ranges came at Northwest-Sumas, wherelate trades plunged from earlier levels. A marketer who started theday with a $2.10 Sumas deal saw his last purchase slide to $1.94,saying demand diminished quickly due to warming weather in thePacific Northwest. It’s obvious that late mountain snowmelt isstill delaying the onset of what is expected to be copioushydropower, he said; many of the buyers at Sumas Thursday werepower generators. But the marketer doesn’t expect a steep plunge ingas prices when the hydro finally arrives. There is still plenty ofroom for putting gas into storage because injections in theNorthwest have been delayed this spring, he said.

A couple of sources reporting another “quiet” day of tradingactivity were hopeful that the market will liven up a bit asbidweek gets nearer. A marketer reporting June basis of plus 5-5.25for Chicago citygates and minus 4 for NGPL-Louisiana said he wasseeing “normal spreads so far.”

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