The cash market ignored the preview of winter that was expectedto permeate nearly all U.S. weather over the weekend, insteadfocusing on another dime-plus screen dive and the fact that thechill is likely to be short-lived and was displacing cooling loadin the South. The result was widely varied price drops betweenabout a nickel and nearly 50 cents Friday.

The biggest declines were concentrated in San Juan Basin and theRockies, while some of the smaller downturns were in the chillyNortheast.

Some traders were surprised to find the weekend market so weakin the face of forecasts that near-freezing temperatures wouldinvade even the Deep South by Sunday or today. But it wasunrealistic to expect a firm market, according to a Houston-basedmarketer. “We’re losing a great amount of electric generation loadwith the South turning cold,” he said, “and there just won’t beenough heating demand to replace it.” Also it would be a three-dayholiday weekend for some facilities, such as schools and banks,which added to the normal dropoff in weekend demand, the marketersaid.

Another trader added, “It will not get cold enough and the coldwill not be sustained for long enough to justify a bull market.”

A few utilities reportedly are taking today off as a ColumbusDay holiday and were buying gas through Tuesday, but most sourcessaid they were selling only through today to utilities. A marketerdidn’t think many people beside “banks, government workers andmaybe a few schools” would be out today.

Virtually all points being quoted through Tuesday, such asSumas, were associated with Canadian gas because today is Canada’sThanksgiving Day. A Calgary source estimated that about half of theCanadian gas trading community would be off for the holiday.

A Chicago citygate trader said area utilities continued to buynew supplies “because they don’t want to touch their storage yet.”That was reinforced by Chicago numbers falling to about 20 centsbelow the October index of $5.44, making it uneconomical to pullstorage, he added.

Things could get complicated today if the cold front moderatesin the North as some are expecting, one marketer noted. “Sometraders could come back in the office to find a substantial amountof gas being returned to them,” he said.

Keith dwindled into a tropical depression and was dissipating inthe mountains of northeastern Mexico, the National Weather Servicesaid.

©Copyright 2000 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.