Prices for the weekend were crashing faster and farther Fridaythan they had run up the day before. Declines that were often inthe area of 20 cents left many points not far above Octoberindexes.

Fundamentals, or the lack therof, are starting to creep backinto the market with more influence, a marketer said. Despitechilly conditions in Northern market areas, it’s not cold enough togenerate much in the way of heating load, she said. Gulf of Mexicooutages from Hurricane Georges are mostly a memory, and there’s nonew storm on the horizon to provide gas price “hype,” she added.(Tropical Depression Jeanne was rapidly deteriorating over theAzores in the eastern Atlantic, reported the National WeatherService, adding it would have no further messages on Jeanne afterFriday’s.)

Another source pointed out that although the futures screeneventually managed to eke out a small gain, its softness during themorning helped to drag down cash numbers.

There probably will be even more room for market downside thisweek, a Texas trader told Daily GPI. Any remaining hurricaneoutages in the Gulf should be minuscule at most, and two Dynegyprocessing plants in southeast Louisiana will return to servicefrom flooding shutdowns, he said. Destin Pipeline, which had beenshut in for storm damage assessment, was taking nominations againFriday on an intra-day basis. And Texas Eastern’s Venice System wasnearly back to full throughput (see Transportation Notes).

Intra-Alberta was a “funny” market, according to a Calgarysource. It started way down around C$2.30 and slipped even furtherinto the high C$2.10s before rebounding into the low to mid C$2.30s(however, an electronic trading service had a late-afternoon quoteback down to C$2.23). The source thought the rebound resulted fromdispelling some “misinformation” in the market. There were reportsearly in the day that Empress would have less takeaway capacitythan usual for a while, she said, prompting fears that gas would bebacking up into the province. But those reports proved false, sheadded.

Due to upcoming implementation of the Northern Border expansion,the November-March strip price for Malin is looking like a prettygood buy around the $2.50 level right now, a marketer said. InDecember nearly 1 Bcf/d of additional capacity will becomeavailable to take relatively cheap Canadian gas into the U.S.Midwest, he noted. That should put upward pressure on Malin pricingas California is forced both to pay more for Canadian supplies andalso to replace what goes to the Midwest with more expensive gasfrom the Southwest and Rockies, he said.

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