Blasts

Blasts of frigid cold that have roared across the country over the last few weeks culminated in new natural gas and electric usage records across the country, including in Con Edison’s New York City centralized service area and a new peak-day delivery record on Williams’ 10,500-mile Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Transco), which runs from South Texas to New York.

The most recent of an extended series of quick-hitting blasts of arctic air that has made a shambles of forecasts for a warmer-than-normal February created abundant heating load for Wednesday in northern market areas. The result was cash price gains across the board Tuesday. The return of industrial load from a holiday weekend absence also was a bullish factor.

With the latest in a string of widespread blasts of cold weather due over the weekend, prices were higher at a modest majority of points Friday. The cash market also drew support from the previous day’s 10.8-cent extension of recent strength in March futures.

With last week’s blasts of frigid weather only a memory in many areas, cash prices were overwhelmingly lower at most points Tuesday. Many locations in the Northeast and Gulf Coast plummeted by triple-digit amounts. Only some points in the Rockies, Pacific Northwest and Western Canada, where below-normal temperatures will be concentrated this week, ran against the overall market grain with numbers that were flat to about a nickel higher.

Tennessee Gas Pipeline is forcing producers upstream of its system to pay extra transportation charges unless they utilize its share of the South Pass 77 pipeline, a 500 MMcf/d system jointly owned with Columbia Gulf but operated by Tennessee, Columbia Gulf said.

Tennessee Gas Pipeline is forcing producers upstream of its system to pay extra transportation charges unless they utilize its share of the South Pass 77 pipeline, a 500 MMcf/d system jointly owned with Columbia Gulf but operated by Tennessee, Columbia Gulf said.

Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox has objected to the way the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) last week quickly allowed Michigan Consolidated Gas Co. to pass through a large rate hike in gas cost recovery portion of its bills to customers. Cox said the MPSC broke the rules by not allowing concerned parties to comment before the ruling was made.

Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox has objected to the way the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) last week quickly allowed Michigan Consolidated Gas Co. to pass through a large rate hike in gas cost recovery portion of its bills to customers. Cox said the MPSC broke the rules by not allowing concerned parties to comment before the ruling was made.

Anticipated weekend blasts of cold (including the potential for frozen precipitation in parts of Louisiana and Texas) and the after-effects of a bullish storage report had more price-boosting impact Friday than many had expected.