This week’s climb in the cash market slowed down Wednesday, butwatch out for the fireworks that are virtually a certainty today.

Once again, cash will be making a delayed reaction to theWednesday afternoon storage report because it came out well afterall physical deals for today’s flow had been completed. But thosein the Nymex trading pit wasted no time whatsoever in expressingtheir financial opinions about heightened worries over the storagesituation. They took what had been a modestly higher screen duringthe morning and sent it soaring into the stratosphere immediatelyafter AGA said only 46 Bcf had entered storage facilities lastweek. The June futures contract peaked at $3.73 and settled justshy of a quarter higher, while outer-month contracts formed astairstep progression upward from there.

Most U.S. points ranged from barely a penny up to about a nickelhigher, but California numbers tended to gain several cents. Theintra-Alberta market, which trades all day and is known to trackthe screen closely, skyrocketed by about C30 cents into the C$4.40sin the afternoon, although it was tailing off back into the C$4.30stoward the end, according to one Calgary source. Morning tradinghad mirrored U.S. points with an advance of only a few pennies, sheadded.

It was “kind of amazing” to see futures go up 20 cents or so inan hour, a Midcontinent trader said. He was chagrined at havingbought Northern Natural-demarc gas too early around $3.32-33because he heard later quotes fell into the mid to high $3.20s.However, he added, considering the supply scramble that’s bound toerupt today, “I’m glad not to be in a short supply position.”

Storage numbers are driving the screen, and the screen in turnis driving cash, said a Northeast utility buyer. “Weather isgetting nicer and nicer in our region, while the screen gets uglierand uglier.”

What was really scary to one Midcontinent market was that only 1Bcf got injected in the producing region last week. “Supplies lookvery short because we’re just not catching up on storage, andthat’s causing basis to tighten up in the field,” he said. Hethinks some people got caught off guard and now they’re showing alittle bit of panic.

One marketer reported getting calls from end-users “and I startto squirm” because he hadn’t advised them to buy as much gas asthey could have earlier. “Now their budgets are getting blown forthe year.”

Another cash trader who said he now can see futures going to $4commented: “Do not get in front of this train. It will run overyou.”

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