As expected, cash prices for the long weekend that ended Maywere down across the board Friday, although not by as much at somepoints as sources had expected. A strong performance by the HenryHub futures contract for July largely failed to counteract a lot ofmild weather and the gas demand slump that nearly alwaysaccompanies a holiday period. The changes varied widely from barelyoff a penny or two to as much as 15 cents down, with almost everydegree in between represented.

However, the softer trend reversed in most markets as swing flowdates crossed over into the 1st of June. Deals done Friday forTuesday-only often were in the approximate vicinity of June bidweekindexes and were a bit higher in a few cases. A Midcontinentmarketer said he didn’t see much difference at first Friday betweenweekend and Tuesday numbers, but then Tuesday quotes began risingchiefly due to the screen uptick. He pointed out that 1st-onlyswing could be traded into the afternoon beyond the normal 11:30CDT nominations deadline and thus late deals were greatlyinfluenced by the Nymex action.

The biggest weekend drop of about 15 cents came in San JuanBasin despite El Paso’s announcement that a delay in completingBlanco Plant maintenance would extend a 270 MMcf/d supply cutthrough Monday and possibly into June (see Transportation Notes).

Weekend swing gas was all over the place, said a GulfCoast/Appalachia trader quoting ranges of about a dime or more.Prices were at their lows in the first 20 minutes and rapidlyrising toward their highs thereafter, he said. A lot of buyers wereconfident of being able to buy heavily discounted gas for storageover the weekend, he went on, figuring to take advantage of the 50cents-plus gap between early Henry Hub pricing around $2.20 andJanuary futures trading above $2.70. “But too many of them werethinking alike, and that pushed swing back up” from the earlydepths, the trader concluded.

A lot of people had incentive to go long on physical gas onseveral Gulf Coast pipes because of cash-out prices above theprevailing market levels for late-month swing, a Texas marketersaid. But those pipes were worried about being oversupplied for theMemorial Day weekend and threatening to issue OFOs if necessary tokeep shippers from banking gas on-system, she added.

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