Last week’s reminder that winter actually can be quite cold at times (a fact that some traders might have forgotten during yet another mild heating season) was starting to fade as scheduled Friday in parts of the East, but severe weather was either tightening or reasserting its grip from the Rockies through the Midcontinent/Midwest. The result was mildly higher weekend pricing in the still-frigid regions, while flatness prevailed in most of the rest of the market. Northeast and Florida citygates sustained the only significant losses as they continued retreating from midweek spikes.

The Rockies especially were being hard hit by heavy snows and low temperatures. The Denver area was expected to hit 5 degrees below zero Saturday, and one marketer reported hearing that Denver could register an all-time record low. In response, CIG declared a Strained Operating Condition Friday (see Transportation Notes), and a marketer said Public Service Co. of Colorado had called an OFO to guard against excessively low linepack.

A marketer noted that the cold in the Rockies was enough to cause Sumas to trade essentially at parity with domestic Rockies prices Friday. Sumas had been at a premium (13 cents above Northwest domestic as recently as Wednesday) due to the Kemmerer (WY) Station constraint on northbound flows through Northwest Pipeline, he said. “I think the Rockies situation will be easing by the time we get back into the office Monday,” the marketer added.

The Midcontinent/Midwest respite from a cold blast earlier in the week was brief, as arctic air had already entrenched again over the Plains States, was spreading into the Midcontinent Friday. It was due to make its presence felt throughout much of the Midwest over the weekend, possibly reaching the Appalachians sometime Sunday. However, a moderating trend in the Plains region was expected today.

Meanwhile, things were considerably quieter from the Gulf Coast through the Northeast. Following some record-setting low thermometer readings, the “big freeze” is over in the South for the most part, said a regional utility buyer. The forecast was for temperatures cooling off a bit again today, “but nothing like what we had this past week,” she said. Following Sonat’s OFO-lifting example, Florida Gas Transmission did not renew an Overage Alert Day notice Friday.

Forecasts had colder weather also returning to the Northeast Sunday night and today after a relatively moderate weekend.

A Midwest utility buyer observed, “Cash remains strong, and I don’t think weather explains it fully. It will be interesting to see if cash prices fall in line with [lower] futures values next week when the weather moderates.” Sunday and today were expected to vie for peak-day heating status in his region over the weekend, then there would be warming on Tuesday, he said.

©Copyright 2002 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.