Cash prices took a dive again Thursday as expected. Declineswere around 20 cents or greater at nearly all eastern points and inthe Southwest basins but ranged from about a dime to 18 cents inCalifornia and the Rockies.

“When is this yo-yoing going to end?” mused one trader about thescreen’s abrupt reversal. Following Wednesday’s nosedive, the Julyfutures contract went up more than 18 cents Thursday. Considering awarming trend in most market areas of the East and the fact thatcash is being led around by the screen like it was on a leash, itseems safe to expect at least a moderate rise in cash quotes todaydespite the usual slump in weekend demand, the trader said. Thatmay not apply in the West, however, he added.

Intra-Alberta pricing began around C$4.90 but moved up to theC$5.05 vicinity in the afternoon, “purely a case of following thescreen,” a marketer said. NOVA field receipts are a bit on the lowside, she said, but otherwise there was little besides futures toinfluence Aeco numbers.

Chicago citygates were “pretty stout,” running about a dimeabove Henry Hub, according to a large aggregator. For some reasonMichigan citygates have been weak relative to Chicago, he added.Michigan numbers were about 8 cents above Chicago’s in Juneindexes, but the spread has shrunk to 1-2 cents recently. Theaggregator speculated that Michigan storage refills have beenprogressing faster and thus there is less urgency about storagebuying there.

The economics weren’t good at all for moving gas from Waha toKaty as the two points were less than a nickel apart Thursday, amarketer noted. That’s only about half of the average variabletransportation cost, he said.

We’ve still got the Blanco Plant and Gallup Station outagesconstraining San Juan Basin capacity on El Paso, a western tradersaid, but that will start easing today as the Blanco Plant startscoming back on-line.

Northwest expected to complete hydrostatic testing of its26-inch line between the Sumas and Mount Vernon compressor stationsin Washington Thursday night, restoring about 277 MMcf/d ofcapacity at the Sumas/Sipi receipt point for today’s gas day. Theconstraint previously had been expected to end Saturday. Most Sumasbusiness was done around the mid $3.40s, according to a Calgarytrader, but numbers rose into the $3.50s as word got around of theearly maintenance completion.

Tropical Depression One formed in Mexico’s Bay of Campeche inthe southwestern Gulf of Mexico but didn’t last very long. Thedepression was weak and nearly stationary Thursday morning and thatafternoon but degenerated into “a broad area of low pressureaccompanied by a few squalls,” the National Weather Service said.

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