The tiny futures increase Monday seemed insignificant but mighthave been a harbinger of a much stronger rise Tuesday that carriedcash up with it. As has often been the case in the past, sourcesdragged out the old refrain of “following the screen” to explain…why cash was rising. Most points west of Waha were flat to only acouple of cents higher, and Rockies prices even fell a bit, butother markets tended to see upticks of 4-9 cents. Activity wasdecidedly more intense following what many people had considered a”boring market” Monday.

The Southwest basins might not have managed to rise at all ifwarmer temperatures in California for the next couple of dayshadn’t given them a small boost, one marketer said.

You certainly couldn’t give the weather any credit for Texaspoints going up a nickel, according to a trader, since unseasonablycool temperatures have dropped the state’s air conditioning load tominimal levels. Another Texas source said midday temperatures werenearing 80 degrees, “but we don’t see the electric utilities comeout much for gas until the mercury hits the 80 mark.”

Northeast citygates started in the mid $2.60s but were gettingto $2.70 or so in some Transco Zone 6-NYC cases after the screenhad made its run-up, a marketer said.

As traders started paying more attention to May preparations, aproducer reported Columbia-Appalachia basis at plus14.5-15. ARockies trader said general basis there had widened a bit to minus44 after the big Nymex increase.

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