Cash price changes for the weekend varied widely, ranging fromrelative flatness in Appalachia and Northeast citygates to drops of10-20 cents at the California border. The big weakness inCalifornia numbers was due to trader fears of weekend OperationalFlow Orders by SoCal Gas and PG&E, whether or not they evermaterialized, sources said. (Neither utility had an OFO in effectas of Saturday.) However, SoCal was cutting all as-availablestorage injections, helping to keep Topock prices depressed, amarketer said.

Declines of 3-7 cents at Texas points occurred as temperaturesreceded from their midweek heights and were expected to coolfurther over the weekend. Sonat’s fall of about 7 cents was thebiggest among Louisiana pipes due to a weekend OFO to guard againstexcessive receipts and deficient deliveries (see TransportationNotes).

Northeast citygates were down at first but saw enough of abounce to end the day with little change, said a marketer who foundmore activity than he had expected. He was in the minority, though.Most sources said it was another quiet day. A Gulf Coast marketersaid there seemed to be a lot of gas “floating around” looking fora home.

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