Amid

After tumbling 8.1 cents lower in Tuesday’s sell-off, the marketseemed to take a breather yesterday with neither bulls nor bearsable to influence price movemnet in their favor. The June contractwas limited to a tight 4-cent trading range, slipping just 0.8cents to finish at $2.254. Estimated volume was moderate, with67,082 contracts changing hands.

Texaco stock closed up a healthy 5 1/16 Friday amid rumors thecompany is a takeover target in the sights of Chevron. Texacoclosed at 67 ¬ on the New York Stock Exchange on volume more thantwice the average. The stock’s 52-week range is 44 9/16 to 65 7/8.Chevron shares closed down 2 15/16 at 94 7/8. The stock’s 52-weekrange is 73 to 104 15/16. A Texaco spokesman could not be reachedat press time, and Chevron declined to comment on the rumor.

Texaco stock closed up a healthy 5 1/16 Friday amid rumors thecompany is a takeover target in the sights of Chevron. Texacoclosed at 67 ¬ on the New York Stock Exchange on volume more thantwice the average. The stock’s 52-week range is 44 9/16 to 65 7/8.Chevron shares closed down 2 15/16 at 94 7/8. The stock’s 52-weekrange is 73 to 104 15/16. A Texaco spokesman could not be reachedat press time, and Chevron declined to comment on the takeoverrumor.

Amid warnings that natural gas supplies are poised to tighten upin the United States, Canadian exporters are lining up to fill anygap. As Joe Foster, chairman of the U.S. National PetroleumCouncil, voiced concerns over the future of American supplies,ProGas Ltd. filed the first application to Canada’s National EnergyBoard for a long-term license for exports via Alliance PipelineProject as soon as it is completed in October of 2000.

Amid warnings that natural gas supplies are poised to tighten upin the United States, Canadian exporters are lining up to fill anygap. As Joe Foster, chairman of the U.S. National PetroleumCouncil, voiced concerns over the future of American supplies,ProGas Ltd. filed the first application to Canada’s National EnergyBoard for a long-term license for exports via Alliance PipelineProject as soon as it is completed in October of 2000.

With the Houston trade fair ended, the cash market startedreturning to normal Friday. And continuing the pattern seen formost of February, “normal” meant essentially flat pricing. Butsigns of weakening were more evident as small downticks notablyincreased in frequency. Some of the softness was attributable tothe normal weekend drops in gas demand.

Amid the fiery criticism of FERC’s proposed auction mechanism,Mississippi River Transmission (MRT) is suffering a similar fate asits proposed tariff revisions for implementing auction procedureshave come under attack from marketers and producers.

For the second day in row Wednesday, natural gas futures werelimited to small gains amid a quiet trading session. The Februarycontract finished up a penny at $1.827 in the regular tradingsession.

The great majority of the cash market elected to take it easyTuesday, yielding a lot of zeros, ones and twos in the averageprice change column. The only significant price drops of a dime ormore occurred at Northeast citygates, where temperatures abovefreezing were starting to reappear at some points. Transco Zone 6and Texas Eastern M-3 remain the only markets with a considerablecushion of more than a dime from January indexes.