Getting a big boost from the jump of 21.7 cents by May futures going into the holiday weekend, spot prices rose by double-digit amounts at all points Monday. Increases in cooling load across the South and some residual heating demand in parts of the West, as well as the return of industrial load following a long holiday weekend, also contributed to the cash bullishness.

Upticks were fairly even across geographic market areas in ranging from about 15 cents to 40 cents or so. A large majority of gains were in the 20s.

Physical gas will again have impressive prior-trading-day futures backing Tuesday after Nymex traders pushed the prompt-month contract another 19.1 cents higher Monday.

There is little doubt that quite a few air conditioners are running in the South as highs in the low to mid 80s become commonplace in most sections of the region. And although areas such as New England and parts of the Upper Midwest and Plains are a bit on the chilly side, some large northern metropolitan areas such as New York City in the Northeast and Chicago in the Midwest are due to approach 80-degree highs Tuesday, according to Madison, WI-based Weather Central.

Meanwhile, although much of the East is solidly into springtime and in some cases near-summer conditions, it’s still getting cold in some parts of the West. Although some cities in the desert Southwest such as Phoenix are pretty warm, the Rockies and some sections of Western Canada will still experience lows in the 20s Tuesday. Even Los Angeles will fail to breach the 70 mark, Weather Central said.

Volumes into Columbia Gas traded on IntercontinentalExchange leaped from 350,600 MMBtu last Thursday in deals for the holiday weekend to 595,400 MMBtu Monday. Columbia prices were up nearly a quarter.

Besides the screen and weather influences, a Texas-based marketer thought the recent strength of crude oil prices might be playing some part in having the natural gas cash and futures markets tagging along for the ride. He also suggested that with spring being a prime time for maintenance on baseload power plants, the air conditioning demand from heat in the South likely had more gas-fired peaking being dispatched than before.

The marketer noted that Tennessee’s lifting of its Imbalance Warning (see Transportation Notes) leaves traders with pretty much no transportation issues of any significance.

A Midwest utility buyer said her area is “coolish” but still warmer than normal. That may be comfortable for people, she said, but isn’t so good for utility business as her system’s gas throughput currently is weak.

The buyer said the extra carbon dioxide coming on Northern Natural Gas from its Beatrice interconnect with Trailblazer (see Daily GPI, March 31) is making it more difficult for the utility in liquefaction of gas to fill its storage tanks. She looks forward to the likelihood that Northern will begin allocating Beatrice volumes Thursday.

©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.