“Other than a 15-cent crash, it’s a fairly quiet market.” That’sthe only comment a Sumas trader had to offer Tuesday other than acouple of price quotes. It appeared the cash market may have onlybeen teasing producers with Monday’s moderate firming afterdouble-digit decreases dominated on Tuesday. Some sources pointedat futures as a source of cash weakness, but most said it was morethe continuing lack of positive fundamental influences that causedmost points to approximately double the screen’s fall of just over9 cents.

With Tropical Storm Harvey headed away from Gulf of Mexicoproduction and typically cool autumn weather prevailing almosteverywhere outside the desert Southwest, gas demand is weak as akitten, a marketer said. Even crude oil futures adding to theirsolid position above $24/bbl is giving no support to gas right now,he went on. Also, everybody is expecting a “huge” AGA storageinjection report this afternoon, which will only enhance bearishfeelings, he said.

A Texas marketer told Daily GPI he had filled his company’sstorage accounts over the weekend. Another source said thereundoubtedly were quite a few others who had also finished theirinjections, and with recent price trends there was virtually nochance of them finding a storage play attractive enough to inducewithdrawals before the start of the winter season.

Many electric utilities have shut off their gas-fired plants andstarted selling their supplies on the spot market, a Houston sourcesaid. Air conditioning load has almost disappeared, so cold weatheris about the only thing that will turn prices around again, headded, but he doesn’t expect any for a while.

Florida Gas Transmission numbers fell by nearly 20 cents, theapproximate norm for Gulf Coast pipes Tuesday, despite FGT warningshippers of a potential low-linepack OFO due to high market areademand.

The Chicago citygate drop of about 15 cents was mainly inreaction to the screen, one trader said, but he also was perceivingconsiderably less power generation load than in the last few weeks.

Intra-Alberta prices well over C$3 are only a distant memorynow, said a Calgary trader reporting Tuesday quotes in the mid tohigh C$2.70s. ANG Pipeline maintenance is cutting 10% of firmservice at the border, she said, causing the normalKingsgate/Stanfield spread of about a dime to narrow to 4-5 cents,she said. Calgary-area weather was “really nice” Tuesday withtemperatures of about 75 degrees F., but the thermometer is due todrop below freezing around Friday, she said.

A marketer trying to get some October business going said basisis “pretty wide” and all on the minus side in the Gulf Coast. Hereported these ranges (all minus): Columbia Gulf-onshore 4.25-4,TGT Zone SL 3.25-3, Tennessee Zone 1 (both legs) 9-8.5, and TranscoStation 65 2-1.5.

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