Heat

Shippers on Texas Gas Transmission Corp. have called on FERC toproceed cautiously with the pipeline’s proposed Section 4 generalrate filing that seeks to increase its total cost of service by19%, or $48 million, and boost annual rates for jurisdictionalpipeline and storage services by about $81 million.

As if tethered to a bungie cord, natural gas prices bounced backyesterday at the New York Mercantile Exchange as temperatures alongthe East Coast soared into the 90s. Those record-setting readingsalong with stronger crude oil and physical natural gas prices gavetraders the opportunity to reclaim a large portion of last week’sprice slide. The June contract received the biggest boost, pushing14.5 cents higher to finish at $3.17.

Scorching summer heat, high oil prices and a weak hydropowersupply should lead to a significant increase in gas demand thisyear, according to a report issued last week by Friedman, Billings,Ramsey & Co., Inc. (FBR), a Virginia-based financialinstitution. Prices will probably increase throughout the summer,the firm predicted.

TransCanada PipeLines won the opening heat in its race to equipitself for the new era of competition in Canadian gastransportation, but much remains to be decided by a regulatory andnegotiating marathon.

Fresh competition has emerged for TransCanada PipeLines Ltd.’sNova gas-gathering grid in Alberta – this time from its neighbor tothe east in Saskatchewan.

Fresh competition has emerged for TransCanada PipeLines Ltd.’sNova gas-gathering grid in Alberta — this time from its neighborto the east in Saskatchewan.

California’s major natural gas industry players, some 75parties, will sit down again seeking agreement on a plan forunbundling the Southern California Gas system that has so-farresisted full opening up of intrastate and interstate transmissionand storage for all customers, large and small.

As cooling temperatures were giving heat ravaged areas from theUpper Midwest to the Southeast much needed relief, the natural gasfutures market was doing its own cooling off early yesterday asprices dipped to the lowest level since July 23. The move lower wasshort-lived and after opening at $2.50 the August contract wasunable to attract follow-though selling, leaving buyers to bid themarket higher throughout the rest of the day. The prompt monthfinished up 3.2 cents at $2.575.

As high temperatures and humidity pushed heat indexes into thetriple digits, electric output for the week ending July 24 reached81,144 gigawatt hours (GWh), surpassing the previous record of80,335 GWh set last August, according to data collected by theEdison Electric Institute.