Access

Boosted by a more than a nickel increase in during the overnightAccess trading session, followed by a second straight day of higherearly morning over-the-counter dealings, natural gas futures werequick out of the chute Tuesday as traders set their sights onceagain on the key $4.00 level. But just like Monday, yesterday’searly buying quickly turned into profit-taking when it becameapparent $4.00 was beyond bulls’ reach. The June contract finished6.7 cents stronger at $3.814, after trading within a tight,8.5-cent range.

After suffering expiration-day losses in both regular and Accesstrading sessions Wednesday, natural gas futures made a feebleattempt at higher ground before ultimately slipping lower at theclosing bell yesterday. With that the May contract finished itsfirst day as prompt month with a 3.5 cent decline to $2.83. Volumewas extremely weak with just 48,969 contracts changing hands.

Petal Gas Storage, a subsidiary of Crystal Gas Storage Inc., hasfiled with FERC to build a 64.2-mile, 36-inch pipeline to accessexpanded capacity at its Mississippi salt cavern storage facilityand make deliveries under a new, large, long term storage contractwith Southern Company Services (SCS).

Petal Gas Storage, a subsidiary of Crystal Gas Storage Inc., hasfiled with FERC to build a 64.2-mile, 36-inch pipeline to accessexpanded capacity at its Mississippi salt cavern storage facilityand make deliveries under a new, large, long term storage contractwith Southern Company Services (SCS).

After notching gains in both the regular and Access tradingsessions Wednesday, the futures market sank again yesterday asbulls battled with an increasingly negative technical picture andunsupportive weather outlooks. Within an hour of its $2.895 open,the December contract had already slipped a nickel lower. From thatpoint it continued to chop lower for the rest of the session,finishing down 4.7 cents at $2.826.

Taking a cue from Wednesday’s Access trading session, thefutures market probed lower yesterday as weak longs and speculatorstook profits away from the price rally earlier this week. TheNovember contract was dealt the largest blow, slipping 13.6 centsto finish at $2.834. December closely followed by tumbling 10.8cents to $3.051.

In an effort to increase their access to deep-water gas, TheCoastal Corp. announced last week that subsidiaries of ANR Pipelineentered in a series of agreements under which they collectivelyhave become joint owners in a new holding company, DeepwaterHoldings L.L.C. The financial terms were not disclosed.

Feeding off gains notched during the Wednesday evening Accesssession, the futures market climbed higher yesterday as traderscovered shorts positions created during the recent dip. However,after failing to punch through resistance at $2.70 early, theNovember contract slipped in the afternoon before finishing at$2.642, a 4.1-cent advance on the day.

Adding to losses sustained in the Monday evening Access tradingsession, gas futures continued lower yesterday in sympathy withfree falling physical prices and in expectation of a bearishstorage report today. After gapping a hefty 7 cents lower to openat $2.44 the spot month October sifted lower throughout the sessionto close down 9.2 cents at $2.427. Heavy estimated volume of 89,223served to authenticate the move lower.