A lot of cash points came close to matching the screen’s rise ofalmost a nickel Wednesday, give or take a penny or two. In additionto the futures influence, there was “a little bit” of cold here andthere to help generate a modest price rally, though still notenough cold to help much, sources said.

Larger increases of about a dime or more dominated theRockies/Pacific Northwest and San Juan Basin markets, while ahigh-inventory OFO issued for today by PG&E kept numbers flatat the utility’s citygate. One trader thought a Sumas jump of morethan a nickel after his first purchase in the $1.60s resulted fromrising load in the Pacific Northwest; he had heard a cogenerationunit contributed by returning to service from a shutdown. Anothersource saw Sumas as short “because people sold it short coming intothe month, figuring there would be excess gas available now thatJackson Prairie storage is full. Now it appears that they haveshorted it too much, causing people to step out in the market tobuy.”

A marketer thought the San Juan strength was at least partiallydue to people preparing for Oct. 26-30 maintenance onTranswestern’s San Juan Lateral that will take about 625 MMcf/d offthe market. Those people are scrambling to go long on supply nowand work it off at the end of the month, he said. Also, ongoing andupcoming maintenance on El Paso’s North Mainline has traderspicking up extra volumes now, he added.

Although market-area storage is nearly full in the Midwest andNortheast, a producer said, he thinks there is still some storagedemand there to help boost prices because buyers want to go aheadand “top off the tank” in the last weeks of injection season.

A producer who saw a bit of late softening at Gulf Coast pointsreported that contacts at Tennessee Gas Pipeline say there isabsolutely no production still shut in in southeast Louisiana evenwith the Yscloskey plant still down (see Transportation Notes). Thegas is either being processed elsewhere or the pipe is taking itand running a little wetter than usual, she said.

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