The swing market kept falling Friday, but outside of continuedtriple-digit plunges in California, the softness was generallymild. The Southwest basins and Rockies joined a few scatteredMidcontinent and Gulf Coast points in declines of about 15 cents ormore, but otherwise the downticks were about a dime or less.

Not counting the massive price erosion in California, it was arather featureless and quiet trading session, several sourcesagreed. Once again a screen that barely budged from flat was anon-factor. Storms predicted for the weekend from the Great Plainsthrough the Midwest and into the Northeast may have helped limitFriday’s price losses, a marketer suggested, but temperaturesweren’t expected to be below freezing except in parts of the UpperPlains and Great Lakes region.

One trader saw Chicago citygates drop from the mid-$5.20s atfirst into the $5.10s, but said they bounced back to nearly $5.30as a short squeeze developed in late deals.

“We didn’t trade anything except the Henry Hub and TranscoStation 65,” said a Gulf Coast producer. Utility demand was verylimited, he said. “The LDCs still have a lot of gas in storage thatthey need to pull out, so they weren’t buying much gas either forthe weekend or for March.”

March bidweek activity remained subdued as most traderspreferred to wait for new weather forecasts and the Nymexsettlement today. Suppliers were bracing for the likelihood thattheir product will see a large dropoff in demand from February.

Southern California border prices for March were slipping fast,said a producer who pegged them at $12.00-50 Friday, down about $2from the day before. He also said border basis, which he had seenat plus 925 Thursday, was down to plus 750 Friday.

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