Bidweek

Maybe it was the urge to converge that had quotes droppingWednesday for both late-February and March bidweek deals. Theincremental softness remained on the mild side as a few pointsmanaged flat showings and most of the others were down by about anickel or less. Once again the bigger declines of 15 cents or morecame at Northeast citygates as they continued to retreat fromMonday’s cold weather-related price spikes.

With San Juan Basin-Southern California border (bidweek) basisaveraging double what it was last year through November-36cents/MMBtu compared with 18 cents-and rising, Dynegy’s $70 milliondeal for 1.3 Bcf/d of El Paso Natural Gas’ firm pipeline capacityis looking better all the time for the company, Dynegy PresidentStephen Bergstrom said in an interview with NGI.

With San Juan Basin-Southern California border (bidweek) basisaveraging double what it was last year through November, 36cents/MMBtu compared with 18 cents, and rising, Dynegy’s $70million deal for 1.3 Bcf/d of El Paso Natural Gas’ firm pipelinecapacity is looking better all the time for the company, DynegyPresident Stephen Bergstrom said in an interview with NGI.

Despite one marketer’s assertion that not too much is happeningin the May bidweek market yet, activity was far from lacking at theNew York Mercantile Exchange Monday. The spot May contract lostanother 7.6 cents to $2.266 yesterday, as traders continue to getout of their May positions before the contract goes off the boardat 3:10 EDT this afternoon. An estimated 93,800 total contractschanged hands.

March prices, which had roared off to a strong start on Monday,filtered lower Tuesday leaving traders wondering if March wouldfollow the weather adage and trade out like a lamb. Cash priceswere slipping anywhere from a couple cents to nearly a dime Tuesdayin most markets. In doing so, many spot points achieved in Marchwhat they were unable to do the entire month of February: tradebelow index. Rockies gas, however, remained in high demand, immuneto the overall losses.

The March Nymex contract turned in another heavily tradedsession on Tuesday, but once again, volatility was virtuallynon-existent. Although the spot month managed a 3.7 cent gain to$2.216, the contract was held to a relatively tight 5.5 centtrading band. Not even the expiration of options yesterday couldpersuade traders to push March out of its recent rigid tradinglimits.