Soaring Northeast gains that topped $4 in Transco’s two Zone 6 pools were way out in front of an across-the-board run of higher prices Friday. The weekend blizzard stretching from the Mid-Atlantic into the lower Northeast, along with forecasts of sub-freezing lows in the Midwest, Rockies, Canada and even parts of the South, were chiefly responsible for the firmness.

Increases ranged from a little less than a nickel to the $4.45 area in volumes traded on IntercontinentalExchange.

Cash prices are expected to keep rising for the most part on Monday as a continuation of frigid weather in the northern market areas will be abetted by Friday’s 9.9-cent rise in futures and the return of industrial load from the weekend.

What The Weather Channel was calling an “epic” winter storm in the upper two-thirds of the East Coast was expected to continue through the weekend. However, some sections of the South and much of the West outside the Rockies were forecast to get no more than chilly.

Transco Zone 5 in the Mid-Atlantic had barely responded to the blizzard forecasts with a nickel gain Thursday, but it joined the Northeast spikes Friday with an increase of more than $2.60.

The PG&E citygate and Malin rose a dime or so despite the utility issuing a high-inventory OFO (see Transportation Notes).

Prices were a little stronger outside the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic market, a Midwest marketer said, “but not as much as you’d expect” considering the widespread freezing weather and snow. Acknowledging that it was “nothing like the DC area, he said nevertheless his own area had received five to six inches of snow.

The marketer looks for higher prices again Monday, citing screen support and very cold weather early this week.

Even with Rockies Express (REX) opening the Clarington Hub area to full service again Saturday, he noted that Clarington had one of Friday’s smallest upticks. He perceived that some traders had avoided deals at Clarington for the weekend “because they just don’t trust REX” for consistent service yet.

A Midcontinent producer said OGT saw the strongest advance in his region partly because of a snowstorm being due in Oklahoma during the weekend and also because of some constraints putting gas into the pipe.

Unlike the marketer, the producer said he was unsure where the market will go Monday. He noted that last weekend a processing plant used by his company had lost power for two days, forcing the company to source gas elsewhere to meet its February baseload obligations. “For that reason we’re taking a flat supply position” for the time being because of market uncertainty, he added.

©Copyright 2010Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news reportmay not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in anyform, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.