Geographical

The cost to build major natural gas pipelines is rising, particularly in the Marcellus Shale, according to a new report.

With its multi-state utility operations centered in geographical areas undergoing big pushes for renewable energy and conservation programs, Minnesota-based Xcel Energy will be deemphasizing the use of natural gas and coal to fuel its power fleet, according to CEO Dick Kelly, who spoke last Tuesday at the Merrill Lynch Power and Gas Leaders Conference in New York City. As a result, Xcel also will be adding to its $2.4 billion high-voltage electric transmission system.

As on the preceding Friday, price movement divided roughly on geographical lines again Monday. But this time it was western points seeing mostly strength, while the East turned in a mixed performance with only few points varying much more than a nickel up or down from flat.

The cash market separated on a rough geographical split in Friday’s trading for the weekend, with eastern points tending to range from flat to 20 cents higher, while flat to barely lower numbers in the unusually sultry Pacific Northwest belied overall western softness in which losses went as high as about half a dollar.

The October aftermarket was dividing along geographical lines as it began Friday. Eastern points fell off sharply from both first-of-month indexes and end-of-September levels. However, except for mild Permian/Waha softness, the West was realizing gains in both of the aforementioned cases. Sources attributed the relative western firmness largely to the region’s having a near-monopoly on any hot weather remaining in the U.S.

As sources had predicted (see Daily GPI, July 14), the weekendmarket was divided along geographical lines. Eastern quotes were upby around a nickel to a little more than a dime in most cases,while the majority of western points registered declines rangingfrom slightly less than a dime to 20 cents or more.

The weekend market was divided along geographical lines Friday.Price increases tended to range from about a nickel to a littlemore than a dime at eastern points, but high-linepack OFOs by themajor California distributors (see Tranportation Notes) served tokeep western numbers flat to down more than 30 cents at thePG&E citygate.

The cash market split somewhat along geographical lines againMonday as overall softening grew greater going from West to East.Most Western points were flat to no more than 2-3 cents down, whileEastern declines mostly ranged from around a nickel to a dime.