Following the lead of an essentially flat screen during most ofthe cash trading period, the spot market leveled off Wednesday,with small upticks outweighing the few small declines. An Arcticcold front was moving eastward toward the Midwest and eventually tothe Northeast, making citygates tend to rise a bit more thanproduction-area points.

Once again, deliveries to the Northeast were the hot market ofthe day with quotes rising up to a nickel at several points, led byan increase of almost a dime at Algonquin citygates. Utility buyingin the region remained quite strong, a large marketer said. Itseemed like almost everybody wanted gas in Transco’s Zone 6 pool,both in New York City and elsewhere, but few had any supplies tooffer, he said. “We were getting calls for Northeast deliveriesfrom people we hadn’t heard from in ages.”

A Midcontinent source noted that on Tuesday, buyers who didn’tget active early had to pay the consequences of rising prices. “Buttoday [Wednesday], traders thought back to yesterday and did a lotof deals early, only to see prices pull back” from early levels.

An East Coast buyer observed that a few weeks ago, natural gaswas 10-15 cents cheaper than the fuel oil equivalent at theburnertip, but now that spread has narrowed considerably. If gasgets much higher, it could run into potential fuel-switching woes,she said.

The spread between San Juan Basin numbers and the Californiaborder got much tighter Wednesday, a western source said. To him,that indicated relatively more demand in east-of-Californiamarkets, one of the few areas with any appreciable warmthremaining. Another western trader said current economics favormoving gas north from Topock (Southern California border) to thePG&E citygate rather than south from Malin.

People will have to make alternate arrangements to work around abig Oct. 29-31 curtailment at Stanfield (see Transportation Notes),one trader said. Those with the best allocation priorities shouldbe able to command higher Stanfield pricing at that time, he added.Another source said the main problem for Stanfield market playersis that no receipts into PG&E GT-NW will be allowed.

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