The closest thing to a production threat that the Gulf of Mexicohas had so far this year failed to cause any ripples in cash pricesMonday. Eastern quotes ranged from barely higher to about a nickeldown, while western numbers reacted mostly to renewed heat waves inCalifornia and the desert Southwest, in ranging from flat to abouta dime higher.

Tropical Depression 5 strengthened rapidly into Tropical StormBeryl Monday morning. Beryl was about 135 miles south-southeast ofBrownsville at the southern tip of Texas and moving west-northwestas of that afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.NWS anticipated some increase in storm strength, but because of aspeedup in forward motion, said Beryl may not have enough time overwater to reach hurricane status before making landfall, expectedsometime today. However, a hurricane warning was posted from LaPesca, Mexico to Baffin Bay, which is about 30-35 miles south ofCorpus Christi, TX.

A spot check of the major pipelines in South Texas found noneexperiencing any production shut-ins nor anticipating any. That wasto be expected, said one Gulf Coast trader. Offshore productiontapers off in the Mustang Island area east of Corpus Christi andisn’t really all that prolific so far south, he explained. “Youhave to get up towards the Matagorda Bay area before gas outputstarts getting significant.” That’s why Nymex traders pretty muchwrote off the storm entirely and sent the September futurescontract more than 15 cents lower, he said.

Northeast utilities missed their forecasts about an influx ofheat because of weekend storms that flooded parts of the region andkept temperatures below normal, a marketer said. The low-pressuresystem responsible for the storms had been expected to go out tosea but failed to do so, he said.

Meanwhile, Rockies and San Juan Basin prices were reboundingfrom the weakness that set in late last week with increases toeither side of a dime. Even with Rockies, Pacific Northwest andAlberta storage facilities reported nearly full, there was enoughwestern cooling load to allow the upticks, sources said. TheCalifornia Independent System Operator issued Power Watch and StageTwo Electrical Emergency declarations.

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