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The cash market went into a general stand-pat mode Wednesday,awaiting developments on the tropical storm, cold weather andstorage fronts. Nearly all points were united in seeing littleprice movement either up or down.

Like a politician in an election year, the natural gas futuremarket had something for everyone yesterday as prices spiraledhigher early in the session on storm hype and short covering onlyto crumble at the end on slightly bearish storage numbers.

FERC handed the proposed Trans-Union Interstate Pipelinesomething of a doubled-edged sword last week. While it issued acertificate for the 42-mile, 430,000 Dth/d pipeline project, itdenied its request to operate it as a single-use line.

A basis blowout of immense proportions has occurred betweenRocky Mountain region supply basins and the Southern Californiaborder this month and it appears to expanding as we enter August,leading to widespread speculation and controversy in the industryabout its causes.

FERC slapped the proposed Trans-Union Interstate Pipeline withsomething of a double-edged sword yesterday. While it issued acertificate for the 42-mile, 430,000 Dth/d pipeline project, itdenied its request to operate it as a single-use line.

Having the merry month of May start today gave Friday’s tradingfor the weekend something of a split personality, but except for afew western points there was no need for a psychiatrist. There waslittle appreciable difference between prices for Saturday/Sundayand Monday-only in most cases, sources said.

Natural gas traders were greeted yesterday morning by somethingseldom seen in recent years – a serious blast of below normaltemperatures in the key gas-consuming Northeast U.S. But evensub-freezing temperatures and gale force winds, which are expectedfor much of the eastern seaboard today, were not enough to overcomethe deleterious effects of forecasts calling for a quick return toabove-normal temperatures by the weekend. After an early buyingsurge failed to punch through $2.42, the January contract cameunder a heavy wave of selling that propelled prices lower to finishat $2.304, a 4.8-cent decline for the day.

September prices were a little lower following the weekend, butsome sources saw something of a yo-yo effect with quotes regaininga penny or two in the afternoon as the October screen managed toachieve a small advance. A buyer at the Chicago citygate said hisdeals averaged just over $2.90 on Friday and just under $2.90 onMonday.

Speculation around the much anticipated storage report continuedto run rampant yesterday on trading floors across the natural gasindustry and that coupled with steady fund buying was enough tolift the futures market higher for the third day in a row. TheSeptember contract raced off to a fast start, but was unable toretest the $2.72 high set last Thursday. After notching a $2.66high trade around 10:30 EST the prompt month was left to chopsideways before eventually settling up 4.4 cents at $2.642.