Boiling

With temperatures boiling to over 100 degrees up and down the East Coast and traders tallying just how much gas was lost last week due to Hurricane Alex shut-ins, natural gas futures traders explored the upside coming off the long holiday weekend. Despite running higher during the day, the August contract ended up closing at $4.682, down half a penny from Friday’s finish.

In the aftermath of sub-zero holiday temperatures and state officials reaching a slow boiling point, Houston-based CenterPoint Energy’s Minnesota utility operations were struggling to restore natural gas service to more than 1,000 residents who entered last weekend’s Christmas holiday without any heat. As of Tuesday, a net total of 605 “premises” were still shut off, a Minneapolis-based CenterPoint spokesperson said.

While reiterating the ever-tighter intertwining of electricity and natural gas, a major statewide energy assessment by the California Energy Commission released Monday predicted that the next three years should be free of any large risk of a return of the supply/price meltdown of two years ago. However, without an integrated approach that addresses a wide variety of energy, environmental and economic needs, the state could be back in a crisis mode by 2007.

While reiterating the ever-tighter intertwining of electricity and natural gas, a major statewide energy assessment by the California Energy Commission released Monday predicted that the next three years should be free of any large risk of a return of the supply/price meltdown of two years ago. However, without an integrated approach that addresses a wide variety of energy, environmental and economic needs, the state could be back in a crisis mode by 2007.