Except for a lackluster, slightly lower performance at severalNortheast citygates, the cash market was flexing its muscles like avain pro wrestler Thursday. Price hikes that generally rangedbetween a nickel and a dime dominated the landscape, althoughCalifornia firming was milder except at capacity-constrained Malin.

For a western trader, the price strength was due to the futuresscreen; “there’s nothing weather-related behind these upticks,” hesaid. But a Gulf Coast marketer saw “a lot of people buying thephysical product.” Besides the screen support, there was alsostorage injection demand and some lingering cold in the Northbehind the price increases, he said.

A Texas-based source sounded something like an economics courseinstructor in explaining Thursday’s market: “There were more buyersthan sellers.”

A rise of nearly a dime in El Paso’s San Juan-Blanco poolcombined with a meager increase of three cents at the SouthernCalifornia border to further tighten the spread between the twopoints to less than a quarter. Meanwhile, a warm weather-relatedcapacity ceiling at PG&E Gas Transmission-Northwest’s Station14 pushed Malin quotes several cents higher while the PG&Ecitygate barely managed a two cent gain.

It all depended on your timing as to whether you thoughtThursday’s market was good or not, said a trader of Texas points.Prices were initially higher and then softened a bit, he said, buta late spike recovered any lost ground.

The day’s biggest advance was in the intra-Alberta market, wherequotes soared about C15 cents into the high C$3.80s, a Calgarysource said. “The Merc really ran, so Aeco did too,” she noted. Inaddition, following a beautiful Wednesday weather-wise it was”snowing like crazy” in the province Thursday, giving prices anadditional boost.

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