Most points fell between a nickel and a dime Monday, draggeddown by the anchor of a weaker Henry Hub futures contract, sourcessaid. A chilly West was most resistant to the general softeningwith prices that tended to be flat to off only a couple of cents.

It wasn’t hard to understand how the California market coulddefy the trend when you considered that snow was falling Monday asfar south as Bakersfield-a very rare event, a marketer said.Another source noted that Sumas and Stanfield managed to eke outtiny gains because of how cold it was in the Pacific Northwest.However, he said he could almost guarantee prices there will besinking today because of the “clue” from the screen.

As recently as a week ago, New York City prices in Transco’sZone 6 were nearly 15 cents above non-NYC Zone 6 quotes (see DailyGPI, Jan. 19). As of Monday the two indexes were only about 6 centsapart. New York City-area buyers were pulling the biggest Zone 6loads back when the weather was more severe, a marketer said, butcurrent lesser demand in the region has brought NYC and non-NYCnumbers closer together.

Saying not much was happening on the incremental market for him,a Gulf Coast producer figured the only thing keeping late-Januaryprices from crashing is cash-out levels. “We’re thinking that atany time we’ll get gas thrown back at us, but it hasn’t happenedyet,” he said.

The start of bidweek was mostly a case of tire-kicking andlittle concrete action, one trader said. With a softening screen,sellers are reluctant to sell and buyers think they can sit backand wait for prices to go lower, he added, calling it “a classicstandoff.”

One source reported a February fixed-price deal at the SouthernCalifornia border of $1.82, a little over a nickel below hisJanuary swing quotes Monday. Border basis for him is plus 11-12, hesaid. Two other sources agreed on the same plus 11-12 basis forColumbia-Appalachia.

Despite narrowing the gap a lot in late January, it appearsTransco Zone 6-NYC will have a considerable premium again inFebruary. Zone 6-NYC has tightened to plus 52-54 from the plus 58area late last week, one trader said, while Zone 6 non-NYC basis isquite a bit softer at plus 36. He pegged Texas Eastern M-3 at plus33-35.

A Midcontinent marketer reported basis of minus 2.5-3 for ANRSouthwest and Panhandle Eastern, plus 3-5 for NorthernNatural-demarc and Ventura, and plus 8-10 for Chicago. The Chicagobasis is much tighter than usual for a winter period, he said,undoubtedly due to the extra supplies added recently by NorthernBorder.

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