Following an East-West swing market division the day before,everybody was on the same page Tuesday. Except for merely smallgains at western points where Canadian gas is traded (i.e., Sumas,Stanfield, intra-Alberta), double-digit increases reigned. Octobernumbers also were reported rising.

Other than a stronger screen both Monday and Tuesday, sourceshad little to pin the cash firmness on. Sure, weather in manyregions is getting chillier, even to the point of beingunseasonably cool in the South, one trader said, “but it’s not likewe’re close to seeing winter heating load yet.” The only otherfactor that came to mind was a late push to fill storage accounts.

Regardless, most points went up by about 15 cents or moreTuesday with most of the bigger gains being recorded in Californiaand the Rockies. A jump of 20-plus cents for Northwest domestic gasand a tiny gain at Sumas narrowed the spread between the twopoints, which had soared to more than a dollar last week, to about70 cents.

Bidweek made a little progress but was still a slow starter. AMidwestern utility buyer complained of not being able to findanybody willing to talk October deals yet, not even at index. “Ithink they’re all waiting on what I call ‘triple threat Wednesday:’the Nymex close, the AGA [storage] report and the latest six- to10-day forecast,” she said.

Despite the futures contract giving back much of its earliergains yesterday afternoon, it provided impetus for October basisand fixed prices to go up, a couple of marketers agreed. One whohad paid $4.29-30 for San Juan gas Monday had a wild ride Tuesday,saying deals started at $4.42 and climbed to $4.73.

Another source said the Chicago market “is going crazy becauseAlliance isn’t going to start up when it had been expected [Oct.1].” Citygate basis was up to plus 15-16 Tuesday, he said.

A western trader reported Southern California border basis,around plus 19-20 on the previous day, had widened to plus 29,which he considered “getting closer to where market conditionsdictate it should be.” He also noted that border-PG&E citygatespreads for both October and late September have returned to morehistorical relationships. After trading at a premium since the endof June, the border has once again slipped beneath the citygate.For today’s swing gas the citygate was 27-28 cents above theborder, the trader said, and for next month the gap was 24-25cents. However, he sees room for the spread to widen, citing thevariable cost (30-31 cents) of Baja path transport.

Rockies basis also got stronger, which a marketer thought wasrelated to the firming California market. Kern River basis, whichhad been quoted at minus 107 Monday, was minus 100-98 Tuesday, shesaid.

Gulf Coast basis quotes included: Tennessee 800 Leg minus 7.75,Texas Eastern-East LA minus 6.25, Tetco-West LA minus 7.25 andTransco Station 65 plus 0.75.

Hurricane Isaac maintained its strength but was still well outat sea about 1,070 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands andmoving west-northwest, the National Weather Service said.Meanwhile, Isaac had picked up a traveling companion to thesoutheast in Tropical Storm Joyce, which could become a hurricanein the next day or two, NWS said.

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