Having the merry month of May start today gave Friday’s tradingfor the weekend something of a split personality, but except for afew western points there was no need for a psychiatrist. There waslittle appreciable difference between prices for Saturday/Sundayand Monday-only in most cases, sources said.

The two periods started out about 2 cents apart with theMonday-only quotes on the slightly higher side, reflecting thedemand rebound from lower weekend volumes, said a Gulf Coasttrader. However, it didn’t take long for the numbers to converge,he added.

One point that did see a notable difference in daily pricing wasthe Southern California border, where an OFO issued for Saturday bySoCal Gas depressed quotes. That caused the border to register theweekend’s biggest plunge of nearly a dime; otherwise the overallmarket tended to range from flat to about a nickel higher or lower.Most of the weaker points were in the West, with the OFO causing aripple effect. However, a buyer at the California border saidMonday-only prices were back to slightly over $3.

A large aggregator in eastern markets generally reportedSaturday-Sunday and Monday-only averages that varied by only apenny or two. However, a few of its South Texas points saw spreadsof as much as a nickel.

After trending downward through the week, May baseload quoteswere rising a little Friday, largely due to the somewhat surprisingstrength shown by the Nymex strip, several traders said.Tennessee’s Zone 0 in particular was a hot point for last-minutedemand, according to one marketer. He reported getting “a lot” ofcalls starting shortly before 11 a.m. CDT for Zone 0 gas, and saidsales that previously had straddled the $3 level got up to $3.06-09in his last few deals. The screen provided some support, themarketer said, but he thought the late run-up was chiefly a resultof people deciding their May supply positions were too short.

©Copyright 2000 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. Thepreceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, inwhole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent ofIntelligence Press, Inc.