Access

After spiking as much as 7 cents higher in the Wednesday eveningAccess session, the new prompt month was the focus of muchconjecture and speculation. Would June continue higher, followingthe example set by May, or fall from its already lofty perch? Formany, it is still too early to tell, but if yesterday’s priceaction was any indication, June will have a difficult time matchingMay’s 50-cent price increase over the past month. After opening at$2.40, the June contract tumbled throughout the session to close at$2.339, a 0.2-cent decline from Wednesday’s close.

Feeding off momentum gained in both the regular and accesstrading sessions Wednesday, the futures market muscled higheryesterday as the May contract notched its highest price since lastNovember. After gapping higher to open at $2.215, May traded mostlysideways Thursday morning before an early afternoon buying surgemapped out yesterday’s high price at $2.23. The contract finishedjust off that level at $2.225, a 5.1-cent advance on the day.

Thursday night’s Access gains, and higher prices in both theover-the-counter and cash market set the stage for the May futurescontract to blast off Friday. In fact, the buzz around the pit atNymex early Friday centered on when, not if, the prompt month wouldfill in the chart gap up to $2.19. But despite all the hoopla andbullish sentiment, the May contract could manage only a half-pennygain from its $2.16 open, leaving the market to trend lowerthroughout the rest of the day. May finished 1.3 cents lower at$2.124.

Adding to gains achieved in the Monday evening Access tradingsession, the May contract continued higher yesterday morning asbulls confidently bolstered their long positions. However, recentgains notched by natural gas have not come without a fight andTuesday was no different. After topping out at $2.17, the promptmonth reversed direction in the afternoon, nearly erasing itsadvance by the close. May finished at $2.136, up 0.8 cents on theday.

Feeding off strength from Tuesday’s Access session gains, theMay contract was fast out of the chute Wednesday, quickly notchinga $2.08 shortly before noon. But for the fourth time in the lastfive trading days, resistance at the $2.07-09 level held andprofit-taking in the form of selling became the theme of theafternoon. The May contract finished at $2.024, just 1.1 cents morethan Tuesday’s close.

Attempting to gain access to a potentially plentiful Gulf ofMexico gas supply, KeySpan Exploration &amp Production announcedTuesday it agreed with Houston Exploration Co.to jointly drilland develop 55 leases in the Gulf’s outer continental shelf. The$300 million agreement has an effective date of Jan. 1, 1999.

Attempting to gain access to a potentially plentiful Gulf ofMexico gas supply, KeySpan Exploration & Production announcedTuesday it agreed with Houston Exploration Co. to jointly drill anddevelop 55 leases in the Gulf’s outer continental shelf. The $300million agreement has an effective date of Jan. 1, 1999.

Adding to gains achieved during the Wednesday evening Accesstrading session, the futures market picked up momentum yesterdayamid moderate short-covering activity. The February contractfinished up 6.5 cents to $1.892 and in doing so not only settled inthe top half of its daily range, but also near the important $1.91resistance level.

Williams’ Kern River Pipeline has taken action to ensure itscontinued control over market access, completing an agreement tobuy-out a future option on the California portion of the line heldby Southern California Gas. The option would have been exercisablein 2012.