“Everything basically went back to index,” said a trader onLouisiana pipes Thursday after prices had slipped to either side of$2. Markets were down across the board, even in previously immuneintra-Alberta. Reasons for the softness weren’t hard to find:moderating weather, a huge storage injection report and a plungingfutures screen.

One marketer considered Wednesday’s AGA storage injection figureof 106 Bcf the biggest drag on prices, “and the funny thing is, Ithink the storage report is wrong.” Such large injection volumescan’t keep going on forever, he said, “but if these are indeed realnumbers I guess the sell-off is warranted.”

A producer saw Midcontinent prices begin about a dime lower at$1.93-94, but then trade up to $1.96-97. NGPL-Midcontinent was thestrongest of the region’s big three (NGPL, ANR and PanhandleEastern) because of more liquidity there, he said.

Other sources reported a similar modest rally in late deals inthe Southwest basins, such as the marketer who averaged $1.70 inPermian trading but was able to make a last-minute sale at $1.76.California utilities were mostly a no-show in the market, thesources said, but then one came out buying at the end and drovePermian and San Juan-Blanco numbers back up. The marketeracknowledged there was some late rebound strength but thinks itwill be a different story for the weekend. Not only is there theusual market-area slump in weekend demand, she said, but also Texasutilities already are not pulling as hard on Permian and Waha gasas they had earlier this week.

While the Gulf Coast may be back around index, as the traderabove noted, Rockies quotes were mostly 20 cents or more belowindex and falling into the $1.30s in some cases Thursday. Opal wasvery weak simply because a lot of gas had nowhere to go from there,a marketer said. However, some relief may come from the end of ClayBasin restrictions on storage injections earlier in the week, sheadded.

In winter firm gas commands a premium at Kingsgate because highvolumes make IT shipments iffy at best. But now it’s different,said a trader who paid $1.38-39 in FT Kingsgate deals but $1.44 fora best-efforts package. She explained that in summer the firm gasis discounted because the tranporters have to pay their demandcharges anyway, so they’ll lower their commodity price just to getsome use of the firm capacity.

The Southern California Gas retail core subscription price forJune shows no relation at all to the cash market, increasing 23.91cents to $2.4793/MMbtu. The core price usually has tracked borderindexes fairly closely in recent years. However, GPI’s SouthernCalifornia border index for June is $2.07, down 34 cents.

©Copyright 1998 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. Thepreceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, inwhole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent ofIntelligence Press,Inc.