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Following two days of active trading and sizable price swingsthe futures market traded quietly to either side of unchanged onWednesday. September futures closed at $1.819, managing a 0.7-centgain on the day.

FERC last week came down on the side of Phelps Dodge Corp. in acomplex contract dispute with El Paso Natural Gas. It ordered theTexas-based pipeline to either add the delivery points sought byPhelps Dodge, or to show cause within a month why – due tooperational and capacity constraints – it cannot do so.

Very few points were left trading above $2 as flat to lowernumbers dominated the cash market Wednesday. Citygates in theNortheast and Midwest (just barely) and the Appalachian pipes(again, just barely) constituted most of the $2-plus survivors,although some Louisiana points such as Henry Hub, Sonat and TranscoStation 65 recorded $2.00-even quotes at the high end of theirranges. Although quotes straddled the $2 level, Houston ShipChannel was the rare Gulf Coast point still averaging above $2.