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Florida Gas Transmission reminded shippers that Zone 1 will becompletely shut in April 13-15 as it does several maintenanceprojects (see the HotTap bulletin board for details). Zone 1extends from the pipeline’s upstream terminus in South Texas toEunice, LA.

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.

For the second day in a row the futures market openeddramatically higher en route to posting a $2.08 daily high in thefirst hour of trading. And similar to Wednesday’s topsy-turvysession, no new buying was seen to help lift the May contract overresistance in the $2.07-09 area, which paved the way forprofit-taking activity yesterday afternoon. However in contrast tothe day prior, Thursday’s trading saw a late rally, which buoyedthe market into settlement and put a positive spin on the day’sevents. The May contract finished up 4.5 cents to $2.069.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has scheduled on itsmeeting agenda for next week a policy statement initiative aimed attaking a realistic assessment of the future demand outlook fornatural gas in the eastern half of the United States.

All-around price increases Wednesday received support fromcontrasting weather conditions and rising power generation load(plus a tiny assist from a barely higher screen). Most upticks werein the neighborhood of 4-8 cents, although smaller ones were aslittle as two cents at the PG&E citygate.

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.

The Millennium Pipeline Project and Southern Energy New York,the company that manages Southern Energy’s New York assets, jointlyannounced Wednesday a plan to build an extension from the proposedMillennium Pipeline to the Bowline Power Plant in Rockland County,NY. The interconnect will be counted as an addition to Millenniumwhich still awaits FERC approval.

California regulators have taken a potentially precedent-settingstep by asking FERC to condition a certificate for Questar’sproposed Southern Trails Pipeline on the company first agreeing torecover from in-state customers the costs of social programs thatwould be potentially stranded by its bypass of Southern CaliforniaGas (SoCalGas).

Supported by the largest increase in imported Canadian gas since1995, total natural gas imports rose for the 11th straight year in1998, according to a recent Department of Energy (DOE) report.