A combination of heat and cold served to keep cash prices on therise again Tuesday. Gains were fairly modest at a nickel or less inthe Gulf Coast, Midcontinent/Midwest and East Coast markets. Theywere primarily supported by continuing air conditioning load in theSouth.

But thanks to cool, wet weather on the West Coast from CentralCalifornia northward, Rockies prices were up 5-6 cents in a returnto near-index levels in the low to mid $1.90s, and Californiaborder quotes jumped by as much as a dime at southern deliverypoints. However, San Juan Basin gas barely eked out a penny’s rise,probably due to lack of market liquidity from traders being inSanta Fe for a trade fair that wound up Tuesday.

Midcontinent numbers tried to go higher on “hype” initially butthen settled for small but genuine weather fundamentals-basedincreases, a marketer said. Another trader saidColumbia-Appalachian pool gas at just under $2.40 was getting aslight premium due to curtailments at several TCO interconnects,including the one with Columbia Gulf at Leach, KY.

Intra-Alberta pricing continued its headlong dive to as low asC$1.15 but was making a big recovery to as high as C$1.58 Tuesdayafternoon, a Calgary source said. However, overall quotes againshowed a big drop as she did most of her deals in the C$1.20s andlow C$1.30s. The Schrader Creek compressor problems on NOVA shouldbe ending within a couple of days, the marketer said. However,storage in Eastern Canada is close to full, so that should keepEmpress exports restricted into the fall, she said. “And when theyrestrict the East Gate (Empress), it really causes problems withstorage injections in eastern Alberta. It’s kind of a doublewhammy,” she added.

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