Prices kept falling Wednesday but at a slower rate than the daybefore. Even Northeast citygates were putting the brakes on theirdescent, averaging barely more than a dime down.

As on Tuesday, the smallest declines occurred in California andon some Rockies pipes, largely because the West Coast region wasthe last bastion of any semblance of winter weather. “We saw mostof the gas in the Southwest basins heading west” toward California,a marketer said. End-of-month balancing concerns were still afactor in keeping the West relatively strong compared to the restof the market, she said.

But from the Rockies eastward practically everywhere wasrelatively balmy, with Chicago reportedly hitting a record high forthe date of 61 degrees. Prices are still going down mainly on weakfundamentals, one trader said, adding that the screen’s tiny uptickwas negligible.

Columbia-Appalachia was rather weak, according to one trader whoperceived some supplies being trapped in the production pool bylack of transportation and having to settle for whatever price theycould get.

The AGA’s figure of 136 Bcf in storage withdrawals last week wasmoderately bullish for the moment because it was above mostexpectations, a Gulf Coast marketer said. However, “it’s the end ofthe good old days,” he said, explaining that he doesn’t expect anylarger withdrawal figures than the latest one through the rest ofthe season.

A lot of people were testing the March waters, sources said, butas usual basis and index deals thoroughly dominated the earlybidweek going. A producer who had already done a lot of Marchbusiness last week said he was getting below-index pricing on allhis deals so far.

Basis may have strengthened since last week in the West, a marketeracknowledged (see Daily GPI, Feb. 23),but that’s certainly not the case in the East. It looks like warmerweather in the East will continue at least until early March, shesaid. Indeed, the latest six- to 10-day forecast by the NationalWeather Service, which runs into the first few days of March, callsfor above to much above normal temperatures for practically the entireU.S. east of the Rockies. In fact, the only areas expected to seebelow normal temps are Southern California and the Pacific Northwest.

One source reported fixed-price deals at $2.38-40 for PermianBasin and $2.33-36 for San Juan-Blanco. Basis quotes included:Texas Eastern M-3 at plus 34; Columbia Gulf-onshore at minus 2.25;Transco Station 65 at plus 2.25; and TCO at plus 14.75. A marketersaid he did Sonat deals at 0.75-1.25 over index, with Florida GasZone 3 a bit stronger at 0.75-1.5 over index.

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