Cash gas numbers were pushed higher almost across the board Tuesday by rising power generation load, which also increased electricity prices at most trading pools. Flatness was limited to the Florida citygate and FGT Mobile Bay in the East and to San Juan-Blanco in the West. Otherwise, most points were up between a nickel and about a dime, but larger gains were recorded in the Rockies and at Northeast citygates.

Many areas that had cooled off over the weekend are starting to get reminders of what mid-July weather typically feels like again. Although cool fronts will keep northern sections of the Midwest and Northeast market areas fairly comfortable Wednesday, temperatures in the 90s will be the norm almost everywhere else.

A firm energy futures complex helped sustain the cash market advance, commented one Midwestern utility buyer. But a Northeast marketer didn’t put much stock in the screen’s support, noting that cash was already on its way up before futures began trading. “Hotter market-area weather was the main factor. In fact, I’d say this was a case of futures ‘following the cash’ today.”

Chicago citygates ran up quickly in the middle of the morning trading session, a buyer said. Going into a short staff meeting, she noted that the citygate was trading flat to the screen, but soon afterward “cash was getting a premium.”

A marketer, quoting border-SoCalGas in the low to mid $2.90s, said it was a bit cooler in the West than it had been during last week’s heat wave, but he was still seeing “fairly good air conditioning load, even though most western power prices softened” (only Palo Verde saw a moderate increase among the four western pools traded on the ICE platform).

Two Calgary traders reported August intra-Alberta deals in the mid to high C$2.50s Tuesday, which was nearly C40 cents above next-day swing pricing. Provincial temperatures are still around 90 degrees, which is keeping cooling load strong, one said. “The [NOVA] system was packed Tuesday morning, but now [afternoon] we are drafting. Good thing, too; people get real nervous when the line is packed tight.”

Harking back to this year’s liquidity crunch topic, one western trader reported seeing a “two-way weirdness” on the ICE online platform. Sumas was simultaneously bid and asked at $1.53. Normally that would seem like a deal, he said,.but because of the negative counterparty risk mechanism on ICE, “it didn’t go through.” Soon afterward a $1.54 offer got hit by the first bidder, he added.

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