Expected

The incremental cash market pulled off a double play asexpected: following up the screen’s storage report-based spikeWednesday afternoon with across-the-board double-digit gains of itsown Thursday morning. It was almost like watching a replay from aweek earlier.

This week’s climb in the cash market slowed down Wednesday, butwatch out for the fireworks that are virtually a certainty today.

Florida Gas Transmission said Thursday that unplanned compressormaintenance at Station 7.5 in Port Barre, LA, which it had expected toend last Monday (see Daily GPI, May 2),is continuing until further notice. The work limits upstream volumesto 875 MMcf/d. An Overage Alert Day notice for FGT’s market area (seeDaily GPI, May 10) remained in effectThursday.

Prices softened as expected Wednesday in response to partialabatement of the heat wave that plagued the Northeast and MiddleAtlantic earlier this week. But based on the sharp spike in futuresfollowing the afternoon release of AGA’s storage report, sourcesshowed no hesitation in saying they expect cash to return to anupward direction today.

Although the Northeast power grid remained under heavy stressTuesday from an intense heat wave, hourly spot prices for electricitywere backing off from the peaks of $6,000/MWh hit Monday afternoon inthe ISO New England service area (see related story in this issue). Although gasprices continued to advance Tuesday, a large aggregator felt confidentin predicting they will be following power quotes lower today.

Florida Gas Transmission began unplanned maintenance Saturday atCompressor Station 7.5 in Port Barre, LA. It is expected to lastthrough May 8 and is limiting upstream volumes to 875 MMcf/d.

Koch Gateway began scheduled maintenance Monday on its SouthHenderson Line (FPL 3) in East Texas. The work, which is expectedto last 10 days, is causing shut-ins at 14 points, butaffectedshippers are being kept whole on the delivery side.

A new combination pressurized fuel cell and microturbine hasbeen developed that is expected to generate electricityefficiently, cleanly and at a lower cost than either of the twosystems on a stand-alone basis.

The cash market was mostly flat to a little lower Wednesday;most of the mild weakness was concentrated at Northeast and Midwestcitygates and in the Gulf Coast and Midcontinent.