The cash market was doing a skyrocket imitation Monday amidsignificant fundamental influences, along with a large dose ofsupport from both natural gas and oil futures. Only a fewRockies/Pacific Northwest and Western Canada points failed to riseby about 20 cents or more (MRT and ANR ML-7 were among theexceptions elsewhere).

Traders reacted to a weekend El Paso explosion in the Southwest(see related reports: market, wrap-up,politics), an ANR leak discovered offshore Louisiana (see Transportation Notes) and a newpotential storm threat to Gulf of Mexico production. TropicalStorm Chris fizzled out over the weekend, only to be replaced byTropical Storm Debby in a greatly similar tracking. Debby wasrated at just below hurricane strength, but the National WeatherService posted a hurricane warning for Puerto Rico and adjacentislands.

California points recorded the day’s biggest increases of about35 cents due to the loss of supplies from El Paso. Fortunately, thestate has cooled off since last week and no power emergencies werenecessary.

Natural gas futures went up more than 31 cents on the storm andoutage concerns. The crude oil contract for September retreatedlate for a net gain of less than 50 cents to $32.47/bbl, but thatwas after peaking at $33.

Up to 200 MMcf/d of Gulf of Mexico production could be lostthrough Wednesday as ANR repairs an offshore leak (see Transportation Notes).

Most of the fundamentals were positive for prices; one thatwasn’t was a continuing lack of summer heat in major northernmarket areas. “There’s some concern about Debby, obviously; that’swhy the screen hit a high of $4.75,” said one Northeastern source.But weather for the Northeast and Midwest is expected to remainmild through this week.

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