Except in the Rockies and Southwest, prices kept rising Tuesdaybut not nearly as spectacularly as on the day before. Californiawas still registering triple-digit increases, but otherwise, mostpoints went up between a nickel and 15 cents. The Pacific Northwestand Northeast citygates saw most of the non-California gainsgreater than 20 cents.

California prices ran up for a while as traders thought PG&Emight continue its OFO, a large aggregator said. When the liftingof the OFO was posted, numbers dropped back by a few dollars atboth Malin and the PG&E citygate, he said. “You can definitelyget some major whiplash [in this volatile market] if you’re notcareful.”

The Sumas/domestic price gap on Northeast widened to about 15cents shy of 10 dollars as domestic gas fell more than 15 cents,while Sumas gained a little over half a dollar.

Contrary to the fallback seen in California, a Gulf Coastproducer said the trend was upward there. That explained why anearly deal on Tennessee’s 800 Leg was a little under $6.30, hesaid, while the pipe’s 500 Leg traded in the mid $6.30s later.

A couple of sources noted that at least two processing plants haverecently quit operations temporarily and think there are probablyothers that haven’t been announced publicly (see Daily GPI, Nov. 21). Liquids prices just haven’t beenkeeping up with the steep increases in spot gas prices, they said, andthat depresses the economics of processing because gas in the pipewith richer Btu content is rewarded by greater producer revenues.

Utilities have got their work cut out for them today in buyinggas for the Thursday-Monday period, a Houston-based marketer said.The task will be complicated by moderating temperatures for many ofthem toward the end of the long weekend, he said. A producerexpects prices will soften today due to lower demand over a holidayweekend.

Normally virtually everyone is paying rapt attention onWednesday afternoon when the latest AGA storage number comes out.Today is likely to be a rare exception as Nymex activity will haveceased for the day and many cash traders will have already clearedout of their offices to begin the long Thanksgiving weekend.However, a marketer expects such electronic trading services asEnronOnline and Dynegydirect to remain active at that point andsaid they may get quite a lot of business, especially if thestorage withdrawal figure is large at 70 Bcf or more.

Due to the screen’s early closure and a short Thanksgiving eveworkday for many in the industry, don’t expect any substantialbidweek trading to get under way until Monday, one source noted.

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