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If this spring is any indication of what’s to come this summer,utility and power grid operators in the Northeast and Mid-Atlanticregions might want to say a few extra prayers for electricreliability and affordable power.

If this week is any indication of what’s to come this summer,utility and power grid operators in the Northeast and Mid-Atlanticregions might want to say a few extra prayers for electricreliability. The last two days of unexpected, severe heat andhumidity strained available power supplies, forcing grid operatorsand utilities to request reductions in power usage. The heat caughtmany operators performing seasonal maintenance on generationplants, which left the power grid without adequate power reserves.

A range war in the Canadian natural gas community has come to anend with the industry’s chief enemy being led out of an Albertacourtroom in handcuffs to await a potentially long prison sentencefor sabotage.

Gas analysts at Deutsche Bank have come to the conclusion that a”structural shift” has occurred in the supply and demand underlyingthe gas market, setting the stage for gas prices to hold theircurrent ground at more than $2.50 for the next two years.

The phrase “if you build it, they will come” sounds too ancientto describe the nascent e-commerce scene. Perhaps it’s moreappropriate to ask, “if everyone builds something, will they knowwhere to go?” The months ahead will see no dearth of online tradingoptions for energy and related properties, products and services asplayers scramble to create new sites or get on board existing ones.Among this week’s happenings:

While much is made of gas demand growth fueled by gas-firedpower generation, a study sponsored by the American Gas Foundationsuggests advancing technologies for gas-powered distributedgeneration — namely fuel cells — and gas-powered vehicles willspearhead increased demand.

A peak at some of the producer year-end results that have comein suggests that average daily domestic gas production could bedown by as much as 4% 1998 to 1999, although one industry watcherthinks that number seems a little high. “That blows my mind. That’sa huge drop,” said Ron Denhardt, energy services vice president forWEFA Inc.

In what may have been a Pyrrhic victory for bulls, natural gasprices cruised to its seventh straight advance yesterday as tradeand local buyers took the February contract to its highest level inalmost a month.

This week’s bull market did come to an end Thursday as generallyexpected, but there was only a slight amount of price retrenchmentprimarily because of a show of strength by January futures. Eventhough cash traders were starting to discount the most recent coldweather forecasts, people in the Nymex pit apparently were stillgiving them credence. Most points were flat to 2-3 cents down, withseveral scattered ones achieving small gains. Only a few pointsfell by as much as a nickel or so.