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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.”

After etching what some feel could be the range for theremainder of the April contract’s life with Monday’s $1.69 low andTuesday’s $1.825 high, the market stayed pat Wednesday-tradinginside a tight 3-cent range. And while no fresh fundamental forceswere seen to usher the market in either direction, sourcesindentified a host of limiting technical factors in yesterday’sprice action. The April contract finished up 0.5 cents to $1.795.

With little in the way of fundamental support to speak of, cashprices still managed gains between a nickel and a dime Tuesday atalmost every trading point. “It’s got to be technical,” said autility buyer. The tone was set by the screen opening around $1.80,a dime higher than Monday’s opening, even though the April contracteventually ended the day with a small net loss, he said. Anothersource thought it was a case of cash starting to converge with thescreen.

After a convincing 7-cent gain to kick off the week, the futuresmarket forged higher yesterday morning amid continuedshort-covering mixed with some fresh buying activity. The Aprilcontract was bumping up against the March 12 high of $1.825 inmid-day trading, but in the afternoon the buying dried up, leavingonly sellers to determine the market direction. The resulting priceslide-7 cents in 45 minutes-send the prompt month spiraling lowerto finish at $1.754.

Edison International’s wholly-owned independent power subsidiarywill acquire all the fossil-fuel generating assets of CommonwealthEdison. The company will pay about $5 billion for a package of coaland gas-fired plants with total capacity of 9,772 megawatts (MW).Edison Mission Energy has also committed to build 500 MW ofgas-fired generating capacity in Chicago.

Energy Secretary Bill Richardson yesterday said the long-awaitedClinton administration bill to restructure the retail powerindustry would be on congressional lawmakers’ desks after theyreturn from Easter recess in mid-April.

Low commodity prices and industry belt-tightening picked off theRocky Mountain Oil & Gas Association (RMOGA). The trade groupsaid it will shut its doors June 1. The move comes amidreorganization of the American Petroleum Institute (API) andfollows talk last year of combining the Natural Gas SupplyAssociation with API. Clearly, the pressure is on to cut costs, andtrade association dues paying has become less of a priority.

Ocean Energy announced Tuesday it has signed purchase and salesagreements with various companies to divest certain U.S. onshoreassets in an effort to reduce its debt before merging with SeagullEnergy Corp. The sales total $42 million and are located primarilyin the Midcontinent, Permian Basin and Rocky Mountain regions.

National Fuel Gas used a hearing in the Pennsylvania senateTuesday to voice its opposition to the state’s gas deregulationbill. It is the only LDC to oppose the bill so far.