The cash market, not having much in the way of new influencesother than a large drop in crude oil futures, got quieter Tuesdayin both activity level and price movement. Few points ranged anyfurther than 2-3 cents up or down from flat.

A marginally higher gas futures screen gave little guidance tocash, sources said, and the recent retreat from super-high crudepricing had been expected for some time, so it likely was alreadyfactored into energy markets. Instead, there was enough colderweather in the Rockies and Midwest/Northeast to foster a fairamount of heating load, they said. In addition, one tradersuggested that balancing concerns in preparation for upcomingpipeline cash-outs may be creating some extra demand.

Because of New England seeing a slow warming trend from lastweek’s cold, Algonquin citygates constituted one of the onlymarkets seeing a drop of more than 2 cents.

It was a quiet day, a marketer said. Prices tried to push lowerat the open but that didn’t happen, he went on, and they were”inching” higher towards the end of trading.

Despite the return of supplies on Westcoast following the end ofa Fort Nelson Plant restriction, Sumas numbers into Northwestremained several cents above those for the U.S. product. That’slargely because the relative strength of intra-Alberta pricing (midto high C$3.40s Tuesday) is drawing a sizeable chunk of BritishColumbia gas eastward across the provincial border, a Calgarytrader said.

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