Ranged

Price movement ranged from essentially none to nearly a dime higher for most points Thursday. Small declines at Northeast citygates and larger ones for the PG&E citygate and California border-SoCal gas were the exceptions in one direction, while upticks of 15-20 cents or so more for Malin and intra-Alberta broke the pattern in the other direction.

Eastern prices ranged from flat to down as much as a quarter Monday, with most points registering declines between a nickel and about 15 cents. But western markets tended to rebound strongly as hot weather and higher power prices gave a boost to gas.

A quiet market week showed no inclination for change going intothe weekend. Most points ranged from flat to up a dime, but only afew rose more than a nickel or so. Major departures from theoverall market trend were (where else?) in California, where Malinpushed nearly a dollar higher while the border and PG&Ecitygate slipped about 35-40 cents each.

The Christmas weekend market was a true hodgepodge of pricemovement. Friday’s changes ranged from more than $2 lower in theNorthern Natural Gas market area, despite a pipeline OFO still ineffect after nearly two weeks, to more than $2 higher in both ofTransco’s Zone 6 pools. Other points were arrayed at variouspositions in between, but most were flat to 20 cents down.

Flat pricing dominated much of the swing market Monday, butquotes ranged to about a nickel higher in the Midcontinent/Midwestand Southwest/California regions. Colder Midwest weather and a bitof chill on the West Coast built up some extra demand in thosemarkets, traders said.

Nearly all markets ranged from flat to just over a dime higherin post-weekend trading Monday, with most increases on either sideof a nickel. The stronger rises tended to occur mainly at westernpoints, while most of the very mild softness was at Northeastcitygates.

Most of the cash market ranged from flat to a little over anickel higher Monday, but that mild showing of firmness isn’texpected to survive into today.

Most of the cash market continued to sink a few cents lowerMonday in price showings that ranged from essentially flat to downmore than a dime on ANR’s Southeast Mainline, which is experiencinga capacity curtailment of about 100 MMcf/d during May due tocompressor maintenance.

Lacking any influence from weather or a flat screen, cash pricesranged from flat to down about a nickel Wednesday. Nearly alldeclines were by smaller amounts than the increases that hadpreceded them Tuesday. In one marketer’s view, “Apparently priceswent back down to compensate for Tuesday’s unsupported rise.There’s no weather and no [pipeline capacity] restrictions.”