The April swing market started to level off for the most partTuesday as price changes were dominated by flatness and smallincreases. The May bidweek remained slow in developing and featuredsome index-plus trading starting to turn into index-slightly minusdeals.

Late-April incremental prices tended to be strongest in theNortheast and on several Gulf Coast pipes that serve that region.Pipes like Tennessee, Texas Eastern and Transco saw gains of alittle less than a nickel, while Northeast citygates mostly roseabout a nickel or more. Overcast skies, rain and chilly winds willkeep market-area temperatures below seasonal norms today, oneforecasting service said.

Northeast prices tended to ease off as the morning went on. ANortheast buyer said he avoided Transco’s Zone 6 (New York City)pool as too expensive in the low $3.60s early on, but then pickedup some gas later after prices had fallen to the mid $3.50s.

The heating load boost did not carry over to theMidcontinent/Midwest, where it will be cool but not really coldexcept in some cities south of the Great Lakes, the service said. Amild futures downturn helped to keep Midcontinent/Midwest pricesflat in most cases, a marketer said.

The day’s biggest drop of a nickel occurred at the PG&Ecitygate, where a customer-specific OFO served as a depressant,sources said. Most western numbers started to fall a few centsafter the OFO was issued, according to an aggregator.

Opinions and guesses on this afternoon’s AGA storage figure weremixed. A big marketer said his company was looking for an injectionof up to 20 Bcf. But another trader noted, “I keep hearing thereport might be close to zero; that is, little or no injection.”

We’re starting to see more storage injection demand from theutilities emerge this week for both April swing and May baseload,according to a Houston-based trader. Some of them had been”resting” their storage fields for the first two to three weeks ofApril, he added; now they’re starting to make up for lost time.However, he was seeing few utility bids as of Tuesday, saying theywere hanging back until today’s screen settlement. Many Gulf Coastpoints had been trading at index plus half a penny, but thosepremiums were weakening slightly Tuesday, the trader said.

Another source reporting softer index-based deals said Chicagocitygates had been trading at index flat to slightly plus Mondaybut had shifted to a little below index Tuesday. “You just can findanybody willing to do index-plus any more,” he complained. It’sbeen a pretty slow bidweek so far, primarily because buyers “werestill sticker-shocked,” he said.

One marketer who was trading intra-Alberta baseload for May inthe low C$3.90s Tuesday expects numbers to soften into the C$3.80seventually this week. Other May fixed-price reports were ElPaso-Permian in the high $2.80s, El Paso-San Juan (Blanco) in thehigh $2.70s, Waha at just over $3 and Kern River in the low to mid$2.70s.

Tuesday’s new basis quotes included Columbia Gulf onshore andTGT Zone SL at minus 2-1.5; Transco Station 65 at plus 0.75-1.25;Texas Eastern South Texas at minus 9-8.75; Iroquois Zone 2 and plus29-30; Chicago citygates at plus 4.5; Panhandle Eastern and ANRSouthwest at minus 12; and NGPL-Midcontinent at minus 14.

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