With much of the U.S. and Canada still frigid from last week and renewed cold having returned to the South and Northeast, there was no surprise when prices rose nearly across the board Monday. There was quite a bit of variation among the amounts of increase, however. The Midcontinent/Midwest, Rockies, California and a few Gulf Coast points measured their gains generally in the vicinity of a dime or slightly more. The rest of the Gulf Coast tended to rise by either side of 20 cents, while Northeast citygates were up 30-55 cents.

The overachiever of the day, though, was the Florida citygate with an increase of about 60 cents to the $3.60 area, edging out Transco Zone 6-NYC by a little more than a dime for the high-price title.

Intraday deals were common, especially across the Gulf Coast. Traders in Texas and Florida reported getting many calls seeking intraday gas. The Florida source said she was competing for supply in Florida Gas Transmission’s Zone 1 with intrastate Texas buyers, and in Zone 3 with buyers in Transco’s market area. The Texas trader confirmed that intraday demand in the state was much heavier than usual. Just about every Gulf Coast pipe going to the Northeast was priced strongly, he added.

The day’s only decline occurred at Cheyenne Hub. Normally a premium Rockies point, the Hub started out strongly in the $2.40 area but had fallen as low as the $2.10s late, as demand disappeared. Two traders reported getting several calls as deadline approached from sellers attempting to unload Cheyenne Hub supplies.

The late Hub weakness was related to Public Service Co. of Colorado lifting its weekend OFO, a marketer said, and although it was not posted on the bulletin board until 3:45 p.m. MST, CIG said shipper compliance and improved weather conditions had allowed it to cancel a Strained Operating Condition Monday. The Denver area, which experienced some of the nation’s coldest weather over the weekend, would be shooting up from the low 30s Monday to the high 50s today, the marketer added.

Sumas and Stanfield were trading at strong premiums to domestic Rockies gas largely due to supply tightness in the intra-Alberta market, which was up nearly C20 cents. However, Sumas and CIG were seeing sizeable declines in late trading similar to those at Cheyenne Hub, a marketer said.

Sonat and Florida Gas Transmission were issuing OFOs or similar constraints Monday, but Reliant will be lifting one today (see Transportation Notes).

Several sources expressed doubt about Monday’s upticks being sustained beyond midweek at the latest. Temperatures will start moderating in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast pretty shortly, “so I can’t see current market conditions being more drastic than last week’s,” a producer said. “As the screen and more cash prices approach $3, you’ve got to believe storage use will skyrocket and drive prices back down. Of course, I was saying the same thing last month and yet prices held up” for the most part.

Despite freezing conditions in the Rockies over the weekend, a marketer said he had heard no reports of wellhead freeze-offs.

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