Cash prices were down again Wednesday in response to typicalshoulder month lack of cooling demand and downward pressure fromfalling Nymex futures prices. The futures drop of about 8 cents ledmost cash points down by amounts in the same neighborhood orgreater. However, there were mild rebounds occurring late, said atrader in the Gulf Coast and Southwest markets.

The market weakness was accentuated by the large number ofutility and end-user buyers being in New Orleans for GasMart/Power’98, one source told Daily GPI. That led to a lot of marketerstrying to unload gas on other marketers, he said. Although severaltraders reported terming up their gas through next Monday due tothe trade fair, a producer said she was surprised by a lack ofpeople wanting to do week-long deals Tuesday before she left forNew Orleans.

The Rockies market was holding up with only mild softnessdespite a lack of California border demand, according to amarketer. Stanfield was among the weaker Northwest points becauseof problems with two gas-fired power plants in the area, she said.

The fires in Alberta (see Daily GPI, May 5) haven’t quite endedbut they are no longer are having an impact on AECO C prices, saida Calgary trader. AECO took one of the day’s biggest hits of aboutC15 cents into the low to mid $1.90s.

What we need for higher prices is some cooling load inCalifornia, said a Western marketer. “All the marketing companiesdealing in the Northwest market are sitting on their hands waitingfor something to happen.” Meanwhile, many companies are makingmaximum storage injections for lack of anything better to do withtheir gas, he said.

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