Traders had to think about the unthinkable Friday: Gulf Coastgas trading for less than a dollar. A large number of points inLouisiana and Texas averaged in the $0.90s, and in a few caseslow-end quotes slipped into the high $0.80s. Few markets fared muchabove a dollar other than California, Sumas, Stanfield andColumbia-Appalachia.

The last time spot prices were this depressed was in earlyFebruary 1992, and even then they were above current levels exceptfor the Rockies.

Presumably he was jesting when a Houston producer said he wasn’tsure but he might have seen some executives hurling themselves fromthe roofs of downtown skyscrapers Friday. More seriously, he saidhe knew of several producers that were shutting in gas purely onthe basis of low prices, “us included.”

“I’ve never seen a market like this before; it’s really sad,”said a marketer, adding that the Northeast must be glutted withgas since citygates were trading about 20 cents under TCO poolprices. “A lot of customers asked to reduce our baseload sales tothem, and I had to tell them no because I had nowhere to take thegas,” she added.

About the only area showing any semblance of remaining pricestrength was California and the Pacific Northwest, and notcoincidentally that was the only area with any semblance of wintryweather. “Prices really ran the gamut with the contradictoryeffects of a stronger futures screen and weak physical demand,” aWestern trader said. Buyers were looking to pick up Rockies gas inthe $0.90s but failed for the most part, she said.

A Southwestern trader was willing to bet that a lot of peoplewere losing big money because they had expected higher prices inthe aftermarket.

Weather should start getting colder around Tuesday or Wednesdayof this week, a Texas producer said, but he sounded doubtful aboutwhether that would help boost prices. Temperatures are supposed tobe “normal, whatever that is,” he added.

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