Late-November price softness showed little sign of abating inpost-weekend activity Monday, and except for residents of theNorthwest and Upper Plains enduring somewhat nasty weather, thereason was apparent to anybody who went outdoors. Temperaturesapproaching the Thanksgiving holiday are unseasonably mild for thegreat majority of the U.S., and the lack of load combined with theearly stages of storage withdrawal season were depressing both cashand futures numbers. Quotes were mostly flat for the SouthernCalifornia border and TCO; otherwise price declines tended to rangefrom about a nickel to more than a dime.

Everybody seems happy-go-lucky with storage and not wanting tobuy any new gas, according to a Houston marketer. Cash was downearly Monday and then bounced back, but not enough to avert anoverall loss for the day, he said.

A Denver-area source typified the weather situation by asking,”Winter? What winter? This weekend I was wearing shorts. [You]can’t ask for nicer weather.” However, he did acknowledge that “it[colder temperatures] will get here eventually.”

A power generation buyer in California said not only haveelectric loads fallen quite a bit recently, but heavy rains in thePacific Northwest have been “good for the hydro. We like that.”

Considering that bidweek is constricted by an extra-long holidayweekend, nobody seemed in any great rush to get December businessdone Monday. A Calgary source called it a “tough grind,” saying hecouldn’t find anybody willing to trade or even discuss Stanfield orKingsgate deals. A Houston trader said that since many people willleave their offices early Wednesday, “we pretty much have only onemore day and then we’re almost at the holiday.” He expects today toproduce most of the December deals with not much trading beyondWednesday.

The reticence seen so far in bidweek activity indicated to onemarketer that lots of traders plan to go swing into December andtake their chances with the aftermarket.

A Western LDC said it had too little demand and too much storageto take part in the December spot market.

Monday’s fixed-price reports included TCO $2.28-30, Henry Hub$2.07-10, Malin in the low to mid $2.10s, Sumas $1.99-2.00,Stanfield $1.97-2.00 and Northwest-domestic in the mid to high$2.90s. All reports tended to be down from Friday. A marketer saidSan Juan-Blanco appreared to have bottomed out at $1.92-93 afterstarting the day around $1.96-97. Another marketer reported TranscoZone 6 physical basis at plus 47.

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