Despite predictions of peak temperatures near 100 in New York City generating a $4-plus increase in Transco Zone 6-New York quotes, prices fell in most of the rest of the market Thursday as the current eastern heat wave lost much of its bullish impact.

A couple of other Northeast points — Iroquois Zone 2 and Tennessee Zone 5 — joined the New York pool of Transco’s Zone 6 in continuing spikes of nearly 90 cents to a little more than $4.25. But elsewhere quotes were flat to down by a little more than a dollar. A large majority of losses were in single digits.

The New York quotes peaked at $14.50, which hadn’t been exceeded since numbers hit $21 on the trading date of Feb. 22 near the end of an especially harsh winter.

The Energy Information Administration’s report of a 60 Bcf storage injection for the week ending July 15 was largely in line with consensus estimates. However, Nymex traders responded about as bearishly as they had to the previous two weeks’ above-expectations inventory additions, sending August futures to a loss of 10.5 cents on the day (see related story), providing further bearish fodder for Friday’s cash market trading.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Tropical Storm Bret was expected to weaken to a tropical depression late Thursday, while Tropical Storm Cindy would continue to drift northeastward well to the east of Canada’s Maritimes provinces. NHC also noted the emergence Thursday afternoon of a tropical wave about 750 miles east of the Windward Island producing “disorganized shower and thunderstorm activity,” but gave it only a 10% change of becoming a tropical cyclone within the succeeding 48 hours as it move toward the west-northwest at 15-20 mph.

It was unclear why forecasts of highs staying mostly in the 90s and 100s from the Rocky Mountains eastward had lost their ability to keep prices moving upward. But that’s the way the market reacted, possibly in partial response to the previous two days of minor futures weakness. The heat wave continued to evade the cool West Coast and Pacific Northwest, while Western Canada will be retreating to peak temperatures in the 60s Friday.

Florida Gas Transmission warned market-area customers of a potential Overage Alert Day (OAD) being declared because of high temperatures in Florida. But the possibility of an OAD failed to prevent production-area prices into the pipeline from being flat to down about a nickel.

Otherwise, except for Tennessee’s systemwide Imbalance Warning (see Daily GPI, July 20) and the ongoing high/low-inventory OFO on PG&E’s California Gas Transmission system, pipeline constraints remain minimal.

Despite Thursday’s price weakness, the National Weather Center predicts above-normal temperatures continuing throughout most of the eastern U.S. in the coming week.

A Midwest utility buyer said flooding along the Missouri River, although subsiding a tiny bit, is continuing but still has had no impact yet on gas or electric facilities in the region. The Fort Calhoun nuclear plant in Nebraska is surrounded by water, she said, but it’s still safe although not being operated currently. Gas sales have been brisk in the last week or so with high temperatures hitting the upper 90s, and that’s likely to last at least another week, she said. However, the utility has been noticing the effects of local conservation measures enacted last year taking effect, so gas consumption is slowly ebbing, she said.

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