For the second Friday in a row the cash market largely managedto beat the usual lower-demand weekend jinx on spot prices. Exceptfor a wee bit of softness in the relatively mild-weather markets ofCalifornia, the Pacific Northwest and intra-Alberta, quotes wereflat to 3-4 cents up elsewhere and ranging a little higher thanthat at New England citygates (Algonquin and Tennessee Zone 6).

A neutral futures screen provided little influence, so onceagain sources pointed to earlier forecasts of colder weekendweather to explain the firmness of most weekend pricing. And if thelatest National Weather Service predictions prove correct, mostregions that normally get snow in the winter stand a good chance ofhaving a white Christmas. In its Friday prediction for Dec. 23-27,NWS said most of the U.S. will experience below-normaltemperatures, with the above-normal forecasts clustered in thefairly sparsely populated states of the Upper Plains and Northwest.In addition, NWS expects a big circle of much-below-normaltemperatures to prevail from the eastern Midwest through theSoutheast.

A Northeast utility said the weather isn’t especially colderthan normal, “just normal for us, but in mid-December that’s prettycold.” Recent gas sendouts have been about average for this time ofyear and should remain that way through Christmas Eve, the gasbuyer said. Transco Zone 6 offers started the day at their highestpoints and prices fell off from there, he said, but bounced back abit near the end.

MRT’s replacement of last week’s System Protection Warning withan OFO (see Transportation Notes) was a “major, major annoyance”because the OFO doesn’t take effect until today, a marketer said.”That costs us money because we either have to pay a premium onMonday-only gas from the Gulf Coast or else buy considerably moreexpensive gas on the East Line,” he said. The East Line is an MRTlateral flowing westward toward the St. Louis area from Trunklinein central Illinois and connecting with NGPL along the way. EastLine prices usually are a penny or two over the Chicago citygatebecause the line takes Chicago-bound gas off Trunkline or NGPL, themarketer said.

A Chicago citygate buyer, who paid the average $2.58 Friday,said offers had started around $2.63-64, but the suppliers “wereforced to come down and hit the bids.” Her company’s storageaccounts are around 80% full, “so I would rather buy gas in thespot market right now than risk my storage reserves before winterhas even begun.”

A buyer said he had already done a substantial amount ofSouthern California border business for January at GPI’s indexminus 1.25-2. Another buyer reported fixed-price East Texaspurchases into Lone Star in the low $2.50s.

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