Wednesday’s novelty of a homogenous market that had pricesrising in all regions failed to carry over into Thursday. Insteadtrading tendencies reverted to the previous pattern: generallysofter in the East and flat to a little higher at most Westernpoints. The biggest drops of about a dime occurred on theAppalachian pipes.

A Midcontinent marketer looks for things “to be really uglyprice-wise” today. Just about every point was tailing off near theend of Thursday activity, he said, as several other sourcesconfirmed in other markets. And in addition to the usual weekendslump in demand, fundamentals “are as bearish as they can be allaround,” he said. Williams prices in the low $1.70s were 2-3 centsunder other Midcontinent pipes because of Williams’ continuing OFO(see Daily GPI, Oct. 13) to guard against banking gas on thesystem, the marketer observed.

One trader noted his Niagara numbers were running a couple ofcents above Transco Zone 6 and Texas Eastern M-3 citygates due tothe strength of prices in western Canada. Intra-Alberta quotes keptclimbing into the low C$2.70s as NOVA maintained its +20%/0%tolerance band on daily imbalances. And Sumas in the low US$1.90ssaw an unusual small premium over domestic Northwest prices becauseWestcoast was out buying, a marketer said.

It was “strength, strength and more strength” in the Rockies,according to an aggregator in the region. Part of it derived fromthe high numbers for intra-Alberta and Sumas; when they soar, theRockies will follow “and then it’s pretty much like a dominoeffect” at Stanfield, Malin, San Juan Basin and the SouthernCalifornia border, he said. Also, a couple of nuclear andcoal-fired generating units are down in the Southwest and “it’s[temperature] getting into the 30s at night in the Rockies,” headded.

A buyer expects this week’s price firmness in the West to endtoday as San Juan supply constraints at Blanco come to an end. Hewas already getting weekend supply offers from people willing tosell at a “significant discount” to Thursday’s pricing.

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