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As if tethered to a bungie cord, natural gas prices bounced backyesterday at the New York Mercantile Exchange as temperatures alongthe East Coast soared into the 90s. Those record-setting readingsalong with stronger crude oil and physical natural gas prices gavetraders the opportunity to reclaim a large portion of last week’sprice slide. The June contract received the biggest boost, pushing14.5 cents higher to finish at $3.17.

Natural gas bulls were back on the defensive yesterday after anearly attempt to push prices to new highs above $3.175 fell short.Once initiated, the downward momentum continued throughout much ofthe trading session, as traders took profits and filled in a chartgap created by Monday’s higher open. May and June contractssuffered a uniform 2.7-cent setback to finish at $3.110 and $3.124respectively.

After etching a new life of contract high at $3.025, the Maycontract was hit with a wave of selling yesterday that demoted itback down to settle at $2.971, even with Friday’s close. Volume wasweak with just 51,445 contracts changing hands.

Citing a need to prepare for competitive environments, CinergyCorp. announced steps to reduce the size of its corporate centerlast week.

Relieving technically overbought conditions and following thelead of weaker mid-morning cash prices, traders ushered natural gasfutures off its morning highs yesterday to notch its first down daysince Wednesday, Feb. 23. The April contract lost 3.2 cents at$2.783.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission yesterday awarded ANRPipeline a certificate to build a scaled-back expansion of itsmainline system between the Joliet, IL, hub and the market areas insouthwestern Wisconsin.

The bloom was off the Northeast price rose Friday as weekendcitygate quotes began plunging back to earth. The non-Northeastmarket ranged from flat to a little more than a nickel higher.

Fresh off its purchase of Sonat Inc., El Paso Energy Corp.re-entered the consolidation game by announcing plans to merge withCoastal Corp. in a $16 billion deal. The potential union wouldcreate a pipeline empire capable of serving almost all of the majormarkets in the country. The companies expect the transaction,accounted for as a pooling of interests, to be completed by thefourth quarter of this year.

“1999 was a very good year for Vastar,” according to VastarResources President Charles D. Davidson, who had the numbers toback up the boast: a 56% increase in earnings over 1998, along witha 170% replacement of reserves.