Even

Prices kept falling Wednesday but at a slower rate than the daybefore. Even Northeast citygates were putting the brakes on theirdescent, averaging barely more than a dime down.

Except for the still-falling Northeast, Tuesday’s developingmarket plunge came to a complete halt Wednesday and even reverseddirection at several Midcontinent and western points.

In a stunning announcement late yesterday, El Paso Natural Gassaid it had reached a “mutual agreement” with Enron North AmericaCorp. to terminate the $38 million negotiated mega-deal for 1.2Bcf/d of capacity that the marketer had entered into in December.The negotiated arrangement covers three separate capacityagreements.

Oneok said last week that it remained steadfast in its desire tomerge with Southwest Gas, even in the face of a recommendation bythe Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) staff to delay thetransaction. The Oklahoma-based company said the ACC staff decisionwas swayed by a “spurned suitor” and although no names arementioned, Southern Union Co. is the likeliest candidate for thespoiler role. Southern Union is bound by court order not to discussthe merger.

Oneok said yesterday that it remained steadfast in its desire tomerge with Southwest Gas, even in the face of a recommendation bythe Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) staff to delay thetransaction. The Oklahoma-based company said the ACC staff decisionwas swayed by a “spurned suitor” and although no names arementioned, Southern Union Co. is the likeliest candidate for thespoiler role. The ACC did not return NGI’s calls before press time,and Southern Union is bound by court order not to discuss themerger.

Even with continuing mild weather and an indifferent screen, theEast joined the West in a united front of rising prices Wednesday.Gains were fairly uniform across the board, ranging from about anickel to a dime. CIG, which had been lagging considerably behindother Rockies pipes Tuesday, was playing catch-up Wednesday with anincrease of a little more than a dime after an eastward-moving coldfront blanketed much of the state of Colorado in snow.

Even as cash prices plummeted 25 cents or more for weekenddeliveries the futures screen managed to push higher Friday astraders looked past the unseasonably warm weather outside theirwindows and focused instead on short and medium range forecasts.After a strong opening at $2.56 the December contract caught a waveof technical buying from both trade and local shorts, allowing itto peak at $2.71 before settling up 12.7 cents at $2.649.

Even with favorable momentum at FERC (see NGI, Oct. 11), Questar’s Southern Trails Pipeline won’t get very far without California regulatory help in removing what it views as the main impediment to its locking up multi-year deals with at least three large end-users who currently ship gas on SoCalGas.

Even with favorable momentum at FERC Questar’s Southern TrailsPipeline won’t get very far without California regulatory help inremoving what it views as the main impediment to its locking upmulti-year deals with at least three large end-users who currentlyship gas on SoCalGas.