Small gains dominated the late-July incremental cash marketWednesday. Positioning for cash-outs was the primary reason forfirmness in the Midcontinent and Gulf Coast, according to aproducer; “there’s not much else to base it on.” Predictably,incremental business tended to get shoved onto a back burner as theHenry Hub futures contract for August expired.

The Rockies/Pacific Northwest market was a mixed bag. Numberswere softer at the Canadian export points of Sumas and Kingsgate.Sumas was down about a nickel, hampered by maximum operatingpressures on Northwest at the point. The backup at Sumas benefiteddomestic Northwest prices, however, which rose about a nickel intothe high $1.80s. Kern River approximately matched the Northwestuptick as the Whitney Plant, feeding 100 MMcf/d into Kern, wentdown until Aug. 1 for maintenance, a marketer said.

Tropical Storm Alex became the first named storm of the 1998Atlantic hurricane season. It was still looking ragged Wednesdaybut encountering conditions good for slow strengthening as it movesnorth-northwest through the central Atlantic. The Gulf Coast marketfor August got almost imperceptibly weaker Wednesday, a producersaid. What was being done Tuesday at index plus 0.5 was tradingWednesday at index plus 0.25 to index-flat, he said. It’s notreally so much a matter of where prices are any more, he went on,but more a case of finding customers. “Nobody is buying.”

A couple of sources also noted some August softening at theSouthern California border. It was trading around $2.30 in themorning, they said, but dropped to $2.27-28 after the screen wentdown.

A Midcontinent marketer said he was hearing $1.85-86 numbers forANR-Southwest and Northern Natural-demarc, with Panhandle Eastern alittle below that. It’s pretty hard to get any gas moved, themarketer said. He figured the utilities are just so long on supplythat “they can’t find any room for more.”

One trader reported doing TCO basis deals at plus 12.5-13, whichwould have equated to fixed prices in the mid $2.00s. Fixed-pricequotes included San Juan-Blanco in the low $1.80s, Permian Basin inthe low $1.90s and Rockies pipes in the mid $1.70s. A buyer paid$1.95 into Lone Star-East Texas.

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