Much of the U.S. bore some resemblance to a lit oven Thursday,and the Nymex screen was soaring like a space shuttle takeoff fromCape Canaveral. The two events combined to give strong support toeastern cash prices, which rose between a nickel and a dime atalmost every point. Gas demand was especially intense at theNortheast and Chicago citygates; both were up about a dime. TranscoZone 6-NYC deliveries topped all points with a high of $2.70.

Only parts of the West, however, managed to share in the generalbull market. In fact, quotes fell by either side of a nickel atMalin and the PG&E citygate due to a high-linepack OFO issuedfor today by PG&E (see Transportation Notes). The SouthernCalifornia border was basically flat as SoCal Gas did not emulateits Northern California neighbor. But a marketer looks for fallingborder numbers today, saying he would be extremely surprised ifSoCal doesn’t add its own OFO to PG&E’s.

Outside of some Rockies/San Juan/Pacific Northwest flatness,other western points failed to be depressed by the weakness of theNorthern California market. Waha and Permian Basin quotes for bothEl Paso and Transwestern rose more than a nickel, undoubtedlyfeeding off the strength in the Midcontinent/Midwest market, amarketer said. A Calgary source reported intra-Alberta pricesrising into the low C$2.80s and Westcoast Station 2 up to the midC$2.70s.

Indicative of the rapidly rising air conditioning load for gas,Duke Power in the Carolinas and Commonwealth Edison in the Chicagoarea reported experiencing record electric demand Wednesday andDayton Power and Light in Ohio posted its own record Thursday.Power generation load was very heavy in the Cinergy pool, whichhelped push Appalachian gas prices more than a nickel higher, amarketer said. And Florida Gas Transmission extended an OFO atleast through Thursday due at least in part to power needs in theFlorida peninsula, another trader said.

One source professed not to know what was going on in the Nymextrading pit, but said it was obvious that identical 14.2-centrunups in the Henry Hub futures contracts for both August andSeptember was partially behind the cash strength. “I guess eitherthe funds or locals finally forced all those shorts to get out oftheir positions,” he surmised.

August business remained a non-starter for most sources. Onereported doing Transco Zone 6-NYC deals at a paper basis of plus 25and was hearing TCO at plus 15. A Gulf Coast marketer quoted basistrading of minus 5.5 for Tennessee’s 500 Leg, minus 1.5 for TGTZone SL and minus 2 for Columbia Gulf-onshore. A western trader washearing fixed-price talk of $2.10-11 for San Juan-Blanco and $2.26for El Paso-Permian.

©Copyright 1999 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. Thepreceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, inwhole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent ofIntelligence Press, Inc.