The weekend was expected to give some relief to California’s cold snap, although by Midwest or Eastern standards, the daytime temperatures in the 50s and 60s are downright balmy. By the standards of California — even in winter — its been downright freezing in the night time and morning hours, pushing natural gas consumption to near-record levels from San Diego to the Oregon border.

With a week of very low temperatures, state utilities were speculating why new records have not been set. The consensus Friday was that a combination of more efficient equipment in place among end-users, the state’s recent conservation push and the recessionary economy all have contributed to keeping the peak sendout short of previous records.

In the northern half of the state, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. sent out nearly 4 Bcf last Tuesday, but that was below its all-time one-day record of 4.3 Bcf on Dec. 23, 1998. The utility sent another 3.7 Bcf to its customers Wednesday, and similar daily levels the rest of this week.

On a typical January day the average temperature in PG&E’s service territory would be 49 degrees, which would equate to a sendout of about 3.4 Bcf/d, a utility spokeswoman said. Energy conservation spurred by the ultrahigh gas and power prices a year ago “has been a big factor in affording us a comfortable cushion” against straining total delivery capacity, she said.

One trader observed that any potential spike in California gas prices due to the recent frigid weather was blunted by huge storage withdrawals by both PG&E and Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co. It seems the big increases in residential and commercial heating loads this week were largely absorbed by the utilities’ storage use, he said. But with SoCalGas system storage still 65% full (compared to the typical 40% at this time of year), there is no threat of the state running out of gas, the trader said. That will continue to limit upside potential for California prices.

SoCalGas sent out 4.7 Bcf on Thursday, well short of its all-time record of 5.3 Bcf set in December 1990, although its sister utility in the Sempra family, San Diego Gas and Electric Co. reported an hourly record Thursday, pumping out 41 MMcf of gas during one hourly span. Overall, SDG&E’s sendout Wednesday was 653 MMcfd, close to its all-time record of 660 MMcf set Jan. 15, 2001.

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