At the end of a mostly negative price week, traders decided togo quietly into the weekend Friday. Nearly all points were flat toless than 4 cents up or down.

The demand slump that usually accompanies a weekend marketdidn’t seem to come into play much, a Gulf Coast producer said. Itseemed to him that northern market-area LDCs had been shedding somuch gas during the recent spate of mild summer that they needed torestock over the weekend. In addition, with prices falling for muchof the week, utilities probably figured now was a good time to getsome extra storage gas into the ground, he said.

California points joined in the overall parade of flatness.Temperatures were still hot but cooling off a bit in SouthernCalifornia, so the state’s Independent System Operator did not haveto declare even a Power Watch Friday, much less the Stage 1 and 2Electrical Emergency notices of Wednesday and Thursday.

An intra-Alberta trader had no weekend prices to report, sayinghis company had taken flat supply positions there. But it was oneof the few markets taking a significant fall, he said, because anelectronic trading service showed numbers starting out onlyslightly softer around C$4.20 but falling into the high C$3.90sthat afternoon. Since futures were down less than 3 cents, it hadno relation to the intra-Alberta market’s notorious screen-trackingaffinity, he said. Rather, it just seemed a case of buyersvirtually disappearing after mid-morning, he added.

San Juan Basin (both Blanco and Bondad pools) was another areathat stood out with a significant decline. One source thought itmight be due to Transwestern beginning allocations Saturday at theCalifornia border, affecting more than 100 MMcf/d of San Juan gas.The Waha-border spread was about 60 cents or so Friday, so eventhough Waha prices were about 50 cents above San Juan numbers,there was some incentive to buy at Waha and ship to the borderbecause Waha nominations stood a much better chance of not beingcut, he said.

A Houston-based producer noted a lot of traders heading for theoffice exits early Friday afternoon. “I think they’re just glad toget a generally blah market week behind them,” he said.

Looking ahead to bidweek, it’s difficult to assess the Augustmarket, another producer said. The recent bearishness on storage atNymex argues for declining indexes, he said; but on the other hand,August is typically the hottest month of the year and “it seemslike we’re long overdue for a Gulf of Mexico hurricane. We’realmost two full months into the hurricane season with nothingshowing up so far.”

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