Heavy

Icy conditions building from the Midcontinent and Texas through the Southeast and heavy snowfalls predicted in the Northeast and Midwest failed to revive most of the cash market Thursday. Only Northeast citygates, where spikes were most often in triple digits, got a significant boost from the new blast of arctic cold enveloping most of North America.

In an abrupt reversal, Northern Natural Gas ended a System Overrun Limitation (indicating heavy heating load) in all market-area zones Friday and said a System Underrun Limitation would take effect in all zones Sunday “due to the large warm-up expected over the weekend.” A bulletin board posting projected that Northern’s system-weighted average temperature would go from minus 4 Friday and plus 2 Saturday to 19 Sunday and 24 Monday.

Goodrich Petroleum Corp. is keeping its capital spending in 2010 flat compared with 2009, but natural gas-heavy volumes still are forecast to jump 15-25%, the producer said Thursday.

The previous day’s gain of 9.8 cents by prompt-month futures must have done most of the heavy lifting in propelling all but one cash point higher Wednesday because besides some moderate temperature declines forecast for Thursday in parts of the Northeast, Midwest and Pacific Northwest, there were few additions to heating load to be found.

Apparently it takes more than light weather-based demand and heavy storage inventory levels to faze the bullishness of cash traders lately. Even with prior-day futures support dropping to 2.3 cents Tuesday, the physical market managed to extend upticks at nearly all points Wednesday. Granted, Wednesday’s advance wasn’t nearly as strong as the one a day earlier, but the fact that it was achieved at all was somewhat impressive.

While heavy snows forced cancellation of workshops for another utility’s rate case, the three members of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission (PUC) huddled in Boise Tuesday and approved a 4.7% rate decrease for Spokane, WA-based Avista Utilities’ 72,000 retail natural gas customers in northern and north-central Idaho.

Droughts, heavy downpours, excessive heat and intense hurricanes are likely to become more common as humans continue to increase the atmospheric concentrations of heat-trapping greenhouse gases (GHG), according to a scientific assessment of observed and projected changes in weather and climate extremes in North America and U.S. territories.

Droughts, heavy downpours, excessive heat and intense hurricanes are likely to become more common as humans continue to increase the atmospheric concentrations of heat-trapping greenhouse gases (GHG), according to a scientific assessment of observed and projected changes in weather and climate extremes in North America and U.S. territories.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) announced Tuesday that it has turned to liquefied natural gas (LNG) to power five of its Class 8 heavy-duty trucks as part of its efforts to run most of its fleet vehicles on alternative fuels. PG&E said it was the first utility in the nation to put Kenworth T800 LNG-powered trucks in service.