Cash prices again showed little movement Thursday. The maindifference from the previous day was that small drops dominatedinstead of small increases. Thursday’s biggest fall of nearly adime came in Transco Zone 6-New York City.

The tight-ranged cash market is remaining lackadaisical becausethere just aren’t any fundamentals-no winter storms, notransportation restrictions, no supply freeze-ups-to lend guidance,a marketer said. “What we need is a good hurricane to shake thingsup,” she jokingly suggested.

A Texas producer was encouraged by the late run-up in futuresnumbers, even though it came after cash trading had ended. Thescreen rose sharply after noon when a new weather report came outfrom a respected forecaster and indicated significantly coldertemperatures should be affecting much of the nation aroundmid-February, a marketer said.

Cash prices may not benefit today from the screen strengthbecause we should see some turnback gas from utilities for theweekend, a Houston source said. If it doesn’t happen, it means”people are playing an up-and-down game with storage withdrawals,”he added. So far in February there haven’t been enough supplyturnbacks to discount gas below index levels, the source said.Conversely, any time prices try to go above index, there are alwaysnew sellers appearing, he said.

A Western trader noted there was “just enough” basisdifferential between the Rockies and Midcontinent to make itworthwhile for Rockies gas to flow eastward.

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