As expected, prices fell Thursday by a nickel to a dime at mostpoints. There was carryover momentum from Wednesday’s late cashsoftness that was pushed along by a drop on the futures screen, amarketer said. A lack of buyers also contributed to the marketweakness, he added. However, he saw Midcontinent prices onPanhandle Eastern, NGPL and ANR rebound to $2.08 after sliding aslow as $2.04 earlier in the day. That and the screen’s afternoonupticks have the marketer looking for upside potential in today’scash trading.

Intra-Alberta was an exception to the overall market downturn,staying flat in the high C$1.70s and maintaining the astonishingrecovery from the early-week plunge that had carried prices as lowas C$1.00, one trader said. The Schrader Creek compressor outageson NOVA ended Thursday, he said, and he was hearing that Empressconstraints also were about to end.

A Gulf Coast marketer said offshore pipeline outages couldcontribute to flat or higher weekend prices today. Sea Robin willtake its Vermilion 149 compressor station offline today for therest of the month, he noted, and Dauphin Island Gathering Systemwill begin an outage for about 24 hours today; “that [DIGS] isworth about 900 MMcf/d.”

A smoky haze from agricultural fires in Mexico and CentralAmerica was not only generating health warnings in coastal regionsof Texas but also put a dent in the state’s air conditioning load,a marketer said. He estimated temperatures were running a couple ofdegrees cooler than they would have without the haze. “It will beinteresting to see if gas demand comes to life again when all thesmoke clears,” the marketer said. He reported hearing that HoustonLighting & Power had lost a coal-fired unit but doubted thatwould have much impact on gas prices.

Sources reported snow occurring either Wednesday or Thursday inparts of Utah and Montana. But cold and wet weather failed tosupport Rockies prices, which started out in the low $1.90s butfell steadily throughout the day to the low $1.80s, one trader toldDaily GPI.

Southern California border prices fell more than a nickel to thelow $2.30s amid lingering concerns about PG&E’s low-linepackOFO earlier this week (see Daily GPI, May 14), a trader said. Hecalled the situation “ironic because we could see a high-linepackOFO issued [Friday] for Saturday and Sunday.” As long as there isincentive for marketers to pack or draft the line depending onprevailing price levels, he said, the distributor will haveproblems keeping its system in balance. In the past discrepancieswere the responsibility of core customers, “but not any more,” hewent on. “You could say that PG&E tolerances are tooconservative; however, they are a distribution company withcustomers to serve.”

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