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Gold/Mining/Energy : Strictly: Drilling and oil-field services -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: marc chatman who wrote (15470)	3/19/1998 10:54:00 AM
From: Lucretius	Respond to of 95453

Still love gas............ Wednesday March 18, 8:40 pm Eastern Time NYMEX natgas ends up sharply, then gains on AGAs NEW YORK, March 18 (Reuters) - NYMEX natgas futures, driven by colder weekend weather forecasts and some short covering, ended up sharply Wednesday in active trade, then gained more on ACCESS after bullish weekly inventory data, sources said. April jumped 8.4 cents to close at $2.239 per million British thermal units, then climbed to $2.27 in overnight trade shortly after the AGA report. May settled 7.6 cents higher at $2.258. Other months ended up by 1.6 to seven cents. ''That's a high (AGA) number. Obviously, they were taking more out of the ground than we thought. It had to be more than just weather,'' said one Texas-based trader, adding concerns about a huge storage overhang heading into spring may have prompted some operators to pick up the pace of withdrawals. AGA said Wednesday U.S. gas stocks fell last week by 143 bcf, well above Reuter poll estimates in the 90-100 bcf range. Overall stocks slipped to 218 bcf, or 24.6 percent, above last year. Eastern stocks a week ago fell 93 bcf and were 26.9 percent above last year. Consuming region west storage, which fell eight bcf last week, slipped to 3.1 percent over 1997 levels. Inventories in the producing region fell 42 bcf for the week and were 34.3 percent over year-ago. Following above-normal midweek temperatures across the Northeast and Midwest, levels are expected to dip to below normal on Friday and continue through the weekend. Much cooler air also is forecast for Texas and the Southeast by the weekend and into next week. Technical traders said April's close today above key resistance at $2.205 could set up a test of next resistance in the $2.35 area. But some voiced concern over April's tepid reaction on ACCESS to the bullish inventory data. Interim support was now seen in the $2.20 area, with major support still pegged at the recent low and double bottom at $2.105. Further buying was expected at $2.06 and $2.00. In the cash Wednesday, Gulf Coast quotes were little changed in the mid-to-high teens. Midcon pipes also were fairly flat in the mid-teens. Chicago city gate gas held steady in the high-$2.20s to $2.30 area, while New York was unchanged to slightly lower in the mid-$2.40s. The NYMEX 12-month Henry Hub strip gained 5.2 cents to $2.383. NYMEX said an estimated 69,871 Hub contracts traded, up sharply from Tuesday's revised tally of 29,665.