Afternoon

CIG declared force majure late Friday afternoon at its mainlineRawlins Compressor Station in Carbon County, WY after a compressorengine experienced problems and had to be taken out of service. CIGanticipates having the unit back in service by the April 7 gas day.There was no impact on scheduled services, a spokesman said Monday.

With temperatures going to highs in the 70s and 80s Tuesday,California started into a second day of rolling blackouts at 9:20a.m. PST, but cut them short in the afternoon as two key generatorswent back online and new supplies arrived from the Western AreaPower Administration (WAPA). At press time the early evening peakdemand was still in doubt, and it was possible blackouts wouldstart again.

El Paso extended through at least Thursday an UnauthorizedOverpull Penalty alert it had declared Wednesday afternoon due tolow linepack. Overpulls on the South Mainline prompted El Paso topostpone the annual maintenance shutdown of its Keystone MainlineStation (Winkler County, TX), which had previously been scheduledto start today in conjunction with smart pigging of the downstreamLine 1103, until Saturday. The work will last through Monday andcause the shut-in of 400 MMcf/d at 37 receipt points in thevicinity.

Transwestern reported a force majeure event Tuesday afternoon atStation 2 (Flagstaff, AZ) when the #2 compressor unit went down forrepairs. Downtime was estimated at 24-36 hours. West of Thoreaucapacity for today’s gas day is reduced by 70,000 MMBtu/d to about1,065 MMBtu/d.

ANR declared a force majeure when its 16-inch Marinette Lineruptured Wednesday afternoon between mainline valves Nos. 4 and 5in Oconto County, WI. Preliminary indications pointed tothird-party damage as the apparent cause of the rupture, ANR said.Repairs were completed Thursday.

Despite an impressive bounce Thursday afternoon and strongerover-the-counter trades Friday morning, natural gas futures werehit with a second day of losses Friday as locals deposited themarket lower after finding an intermediate layer of resistance at$4.16. The July and August contracts moved lower in lockstep, eachshedding 2.1 cents to finish the week at $4.043 and $4.022respectively. Estimated volume was 82,698.

Some sources figured the screen’s steep drop Friday afternoonwould have a depressing effect on cash numbers Monday, but theyreckoned without the heat that began blanketing the U.S. east ofthe Mississippi River over the weekend and continued through earlythis week.

After suffering a 9-cent setback late Wednesday afternoon,natural gas futures held their ground Thursday as traders electedto play it safe ahead of the holiday weekend. The May contractchecked to either side of unchanged, but ultimately finished inpositive territory, up 1.8 cents at $3.073. A narrow 4-cent tradingrange and a modest 54,989 in estimated volume were evidence of thequiet trade Thursday.

Despite a Wednesday afternoon storage report that many tradersconsidered modestly bullish, most prices fell by up to a nickelThursday. California and a few Rockies and South Texas points, withflat to slightly higher showings, defied the overall trend.