As one source had predicted, it didn’t take long for the spot pricerecord to be broken again (see Daily GPI, Dec. 7). Despite softness at nearly allother points, the Southern California border kept zooming higherThursday to lift the price bar again to a peak of $53. “Now that’swhat I call breaking a record!” exclaimed a marketer, noting that itexceeded Wednesday’s previous record of $41 by a full $12.

However, few other points managed to keep advancing. Most fellin various amounts ranging from less than a dime to a little morethan 50 cents. Malin and the Pacific Northwest, while stillaveraging lofty levels of more than $27, joined Northeast citygatesin measuring their downturns in triple digits.

The morning after breaking through the $9 barrier in Access,futures traders apparently decided some consolidation was in order,a marketer said. The screen drop helped point cash toward lowerground, he said, but it was mostly a moderate letup in this week’scold weather before “the big chill” hits early next week thatsignaled the spot price drops.

Sources said trading for the weekend in eastern marketsshouldn’t be too difficult because the “polar pig” won’t reach theMidwest until around Tuesday and the Northeast until midweek. Amarketer said he already was doing Northeast citygate deals for theweekend Thursday afternoon at that day’s lows.

But there could be complications in western markets, which willbe feeling the expected tremendous cold earlier. Evidence of thatcame from a power trader who reported selling at a whopping$3,000/MWh for Monday at the Mid-Columbia electricity market inWashington state. Unconfirmed reports persisted in placing same-daypeaking power prices Thursday in the Pacific Northwest at$1,200/MWh or more.

Despite California’s power price “cap” of $250, a couple ofsources said they knew Cal-ISO was paying at least $400 “out ofmarket” in a desperate attempt to keep as much juice as possible athome instead of seeking greener money pastures to the north. TheISO is issuing its emergency alerts earlier and earlier, startingThursday with a Stage Two Electrical Emergency in place at 4 a.m.PST. It had not proceeded to Stage Three as of press time.

One marketer doesn’t see the phenomenal price strength at theCalifornia border going away anytime soon. “Already the border istrading for January at the GPI index plus a premium of $1.08-28” onan electronic trading service, he said. Another trader confirmedthat, saying he had done deals at index plus $1.12. He also quotedJanuary border basis exceeding plus 1100, which would have fixedprices approaching $20.

Alliance has joined the Chicago pipeline mix fairly quietly,according to one trader. The trend is to sell Alliance gas mostlyto end-users around Chicago, “and typically it’s flooding thePeoples [LDC] area,” he said. That was causing Peoples citygates totrade about 20 cents below Nicor deliveries in his deals yesterday.

“I would have to think that with this week’s weather, we’ll seea 150 Bcf-plus storage withdrawal report next week,” a marketerpredicted.

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