Heat

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.

Sweltering heat and higher cash prices tipped the scales inbulls’ favor again yesterday at the New York Mercantile Exchange asprices snapped back with a one-two combo to easily recoup thealmost nickel decline posted during Tuesday’s Access trading. Thefirst spike occurred at the open as speculators were seen loadingup their long positions for the second morning in a row. After thatinitial surge the market moved mostly sideways until right beforethe close, when a round of market on close (MOC) buy orders liftedthe August contract 2.7 cents to its $2.601 final resting place.For the fifth day in a row, estimated volume topped the 100,000mark at 139,502 contracts.

Thanks partly to decisions in the United States, Canadians areturning up the heat under hot drilling plays along the Albertafoothills of the Rocky Mountains and in northeastern BritishColumbia. Chevron Canada’s western exploration manager, LarryStewart, revealed to a session of financial analysts howAmerican-held hot prospects of filling expanding export pipelinesare being opened up to Canadian-owned firms.

Thanks partly to decisions in the United States, Canadians areturning up the heat under hot drilling plays along the Albertafoothills of the Rocky Mountains and in northeastern BritishColumbia. Chevron Canada’s western exploration manager, LarryStewart, revealed in a session of financial analysts howAmerican-held hot prospects of filling expanding export pipelinesare being opened up to Canadian-owned firms.

Much of the U.S. bore some resemblance to a lit oven Thursday,and the Nymex screen was soaring like a space shuttle takeoff fromCape Canaveral. The two events combined to give strong support toeastern cash prices, which rose between a nickel and a dime atalmost every point. Gas demand was especially intense at theNortheast and Chicago citygates; both were up about a dime. TranscoZone 6-NYC deliveries topped all points with a high of $2.70.