Weekend winter storms in much of the Midcontinent/Midwestcombined with expectations of even worse to come this week over amuch wider area to push cash prices higher by well over a dollar atnearly all points. Only the PG&E citygate was a tad shy ofrealizing a three-digit advance.

Price ranges were spread out by softening in later deals,sources said. This was primarily influenced by the screen, whichopened over $9 near its daily high but steadily retreated as themorning went on, they said.

It’s hard to say where futures were pointing next, said onetrader, because they staged another retreat after spiking in earlyAccess activity. However, he and other sources expect cash toremain strong this week based on forecasts of another arctic blastand predictions of a very large storage withdrawal report from AGA,which one marketing firm thinks will be “at least” 196-200 Bcf.

What he described as “tons of storage” in MichCon’s serviceterritory was keeping citygates there well below Midcontinent fieldnumbers, a marketer said.

Although current prices bode well for his bottom line, aRockies-based producer expressed concern that they “are not healthyat these levels for anyone. From a producer perspective, our gaswas undervalued for a long time, but now the pendulum has swungback too far the other way. It [high-priced market] is killingbaseload demand, and we should be worried that ‘what goes aroundcomes around.'” He added that Rockies prices of $3.50-4.00, lessthan half of current levels, are “quite sustainable” given therelatively cheap costs of production in the region.

A California trader had another angle on the situation. Notingthat he had seen the stories about California flower growers beingunable to heat their greenhouses due to high gas bills (see DailyGPI, Dec. 18), he commented, “Not only are we losing the flowergrowers as customers, but also fruit growers are coming to medesperately seeking gas for their drying operations. Unfortunately,I have to tell them I’m a wholesaler, not a retailer, and can’thelp out.” It’s too bad that roses can’t be successfully storedaway now, because this development means their prices are going tobe sky-high come Valentine’s Day, he said.

Warmup prospects before the new year are slim, as the NationalWeather Service posted a new six-to-10-day forecast Mondayprojecting below normal temperatures continuing through the firsthalf of next week for all of the U.S. except its middle third andSouthern California.

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