Gains

The cash market settled down to mostly small gains Tuesday,although quite a few points registered close to flat. The largerincreases of a nickel or more were concentrated in California andthe Permian Basin and on CIG, which played belated catch-up withother Rockies pipes by rising almost a dime.

The cash market began the week by posting small advances Mondayon top of what was considered abnormally strong Friday pricing fora lower-demand weekend. The new increases were small, though,rarely getting above 4 cents, and some points registered as flat.

Natural gas and distributed electric power should become closeallies over the next 30 to 40 years as the world transitions toless dependence on a fossil fuel-based energy economy, according toseveral microturbines developers who outlined the “opportunitiesand challenges” of decentralized electricity generation at NGI’sGasMart/Power ’99 in Dallas last week.

Natural gas and distributed electric power should be closeallies over the next 30 to 40 years as the world transitions toless dependence on a fossil fuel-based energy economy, according toproponents of different microturbines who outlined the”opportunities and challenges” of decentralized electricitygeneration May 11 at GasMart/Power ’99.

Adding to Monday’s gains the natural gas futures continuedhigher at Nymex yesterday as technical buying lifted the Junecontract in active trading. And with that 4.8-cent rally to $2.359,June was able to successfully fill in $2.31-33 daily chart gap andnotch its highest daily close in more than a year.

Thursday night’s Access gains, and higher prices in both theover-the-counter and cash market set the stage for the May futurescontract to blast off Friday. In fact, the buzz around the pit atNymex early Friday centered on when, not if, the prompt month wouldfill in the chart gap up to $2.19. But despite all the hoopla andbullish sentiment, the May contract could manage only a half-pennygain from its $2.16 open, leaving the market to trend lowerthroughout the rest of the day. May finished 1.3 cents lower at$2.124.

Cash prices continued on an upward track Thursday, although thegains were a bit smaller than those posted Wednesday. A fewincreases barely exceeded a nickel, such as at Waha and the HoustonShip Channel, where Texas air conditioning load is growing.Northeast citygates tended to go up about a nickel as a sourcereported storage demand rising there now that the injection seasonis under way. Most other points rose between 2 and 4 cents. It’sthe same old story about why the market has been fairly strong thisweek, a trader said-power generation load, a firm screen andwestern cold.

Feeding off strength from Tuesday’s Access session gains, theMay contract was fast out of the chute Wednesday, quickly notchinga $2.08 shortly before noon. But for the fourth time in the lastfive trading days, resistance at the $2.07-09 level held andprofit-taking in the form of selling became the theme of theafternoon. The May contract finished at $2.024, just 1.1 cents morethan Tuesday’s close.

Increases of about a dime or more were common in the cash marketMonday. The upticks tended to be larger in the West, approaching 20cents in the California market and on some Rockies pipes. There wassome fundamental validation of Western firmness as the region wasunseasonably cool, especially in the Pacific Northwest, wheretemperatures were colder than in Alberta, a Calgary source said.